cleanup and documentation

.gitea/workflows/frontend_trigger_deployment.yaml

@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@ on:
   push:
     tags:
       - v*
+
 jobs:
   push-to-remote:
   # We want to use the macos runner provided by github actions. This requires to push to a remote first.
-  # After the push we can use the action under .github/actions/ to deploy properly using fastlane on macos.
+  # After the push we can use the action under frontend/.github/actions/ to deploy properly using fastlane on macos.
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code

frontend/.github/workflows/build_app_android.yaml

@@ -8,13 +8,13 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: macos-lastest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-  
+
       - name: Set up ruby env
         uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1.138.0
         with:
           ruby-version: 3.2.1
           bundler-cache: true
-      
+
       - name: Setup java for android build
         uses: actions/setup-java@v4
         with:
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ jobs:
           echo "VERSION=${REF_NAME//v}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - name: Run fastlane lane
-        run: bundle exec fastlane android build
+        run: bundle exec fastlane deploy
         working-directory: android
         env:
           VERSION_NAME: ${{outputs.version.VERSION}}

frontend/README.md

@@ -26,16 +26,32 @@ To update the icons, change the `flutter_launcher_icons.yaml` configuration file
 dart run flutter_launcher_icons
 ```
 
+### Deploying a new version
+To truly deploy a new version of the application, i.e. to the official app stores, a special CI step is required. This listens for new tags. To create a new tag position yourself on the main branch and run
+```bash
+git tag -a v<name> -m "Release <name>"
+git push origin v<name>
+```
+We adhere to the [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/) standard, so the tag should be of the form `v0.1.8` for example. 
 
-## Deployment (using fastlane)
-The application is deployed to the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store using fastlane:
 
-[https://docs.fastlane.tools/](https://docs.fastlane.tools/)
+## Fastlane - in depth
+The application is deployed to the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store using fastlane: [https://docs.fastlane.tools/](https://docs.fastlane.tools/)
 
-Fastlane is installed as a Ruby gem. Since the bundler-gemfile is scoped to a single directory, a gemfile is included in both the `android` and `ios` directories. Once installed, the usage is
+Fastlane is installed as a Ruby gem. Since the bundler-gemfile is scoped to a single directory, a `Gemfile` is included in both the `android` and `ios` directories. Once installed, the usage is
 ```bash
 cd frontend/android # or ios
 bundle install
 bundle exec fastlane <lane>
 ```
 This is reused in the CI/CD pipeline to automate the deployment process.
+
+Fastlane assumes mutliple secrets to be present as files in the platform directories. These are:
+- for android:
+    - `secrets.properties` used by gradle to load secrets needed at execution time
+    - `release.keystore` used by gradle to sign the apk
+    - `google-key.json` used by fastlane to authenticate with the Google Play Store
+- for ios:
+    - TODO
+
+These files are stored as secrets in the GitHub repository so that the CI pipeline can access them.