Background
In the past, it was easy to share an APK file with any app you wanted, using a simple command:
startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND,Uri.fromFile(filePath)).setType("*/*"));
The problem
If your app targets Android API 24 (Android Nougat) or above, the above code will cause a crash, caused by FileUriExposedException (written about it here, and an example solution for opening an APK file can be found here) .
This actually worked for me fine, using below code:
File apkFile = new File(apkFilePathFromSomewhereInExternalStorage);
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
Uri fileUri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(this, getApplicationContext().getPackageName() + ".provider", apkFile);
intent.setType("text/plain");
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, fileUri);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION);
startActivity(intent);
However, the problem is that I also wish to be able to share the current app's APK (and also other installed apps).
For getting the path of the current app's APK, we use this:
final PackageInfo packageInfo = getPackageManager().getPackageInfo(getPackageName(), 0);
File apkFile=new File(packageInfo.applicationInfo.publicSourceDir);
...
This APK is accessible to all apps without the need of any permission, and so does the APK of every installed app.
But when I use this file with the above code for sharing using the FileProvider, I get this exception:
IllegalArgumentException: Failed to find configured root that contains ...
The same goes for when I use a symlinked file to the APK, as such:
File apkFile=new File(packageInfo.applicationInfo.publicSourceDir);
final String fileName = "symlink.apk";
File symLinkFile = new File(getFilesDir(), fileName);
if (!symLinkFile.exists())
symLinkPath = symLinkFile.getAbsolutePath();
createSymLink(symLinkPath, apkFile.getAbsolutePath());
Uri fileUri= FileProvider.getUriForFile(this, getApplicationContext().getPackageName() + ".provider", symLinkFile);
...
public static boolean createSymLink(String symLinkFilePath, String originalFilePath) {
try {
if (VERSION.SDK_INT >= VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP) {
Os.symlink(originalFilePath, symLinkFilePath);
return true;
}
final Class<?> libcore = Class.forName("libcore.io.Libcore");
final java.lang.reflect.Field fOs = libcore.getDeclaredField("os");
fOs.setAccessible(true);
final Object os = fOs.get(null);
final java.lang.reflect.Method method = os.getClass().getMethod("symlink", String.class, String.class);
method.invoke(os, originalFilePath, symLinkFilePath);
return true;
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return false;
}
What I've tried
I tried to configure the provider_paths.xml file with various combinations of what I thought would help, such as any of those :
<external-path name="external_files" path="."/>
<external-path path="Android/data/lb.com.myapplication/" name="files_root" />
<external-path path="." name="external_storage_root" />
<files-path name="files" path="." />
<files-path name="files" path="" />
I also tried to disable the strictMode that's associated with this mechanism:
StrictMode.VmPolicy.Builder builder = new StrictMode.VmPolicy.Builder();
StrictMode.setVmPolicy(builder.build());
The question
How can I share any APK file, from every possible path that's accessible to my app, including using symlinked files ?
