How to generate a Google Play upload key and keystore for a Flutter app in Android Studio?

Question

I'm trying to deploy my Flutter app to Android. According to the Flutter documentation we have to sign our apps . The first step is to create an upload keystore . There are apparently two ways to do this.

The first method uses Android Studio. The instructions say:

In the menu bar, click Build > Generate Signed Bundle/APK.

Here's a screenshot of Build in Bumblebee 2021.1.1:

Where is Generate Signed Bundle/APK ?

I clicked Build > Flutter > Build App Bundle . This ran for awhile and finished without error messages.

The second method uses the CLI. You enter this (on a Mac or Linux):

keytool -genkey -v -keystore ~/upload-keystore.jks -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 -alias upload

That prompted me for a keystore password . What is that and where do I get one?

I'm supposed to see a upload-keystore.jks file in my home directory. Does this mean in my project's home directory or my user home directory? I don't see that file.

Next, I'm told to

Create a file named [project]/android/key.properties that contains a reference to your keystore:

storePassword=<password from previous step>
keyPassword=<password from previous step>
keyAlias=upload
storeFile=<location of the key store file, such as /Users/<user name>/upload-keystore.jks>

What password from what previous step? And where is the key store file located?

I apologize if this is all obvious to Android users. I've always used iPhones. I bought my first Android phone yesterday and this is completely baffling to me.

Answer 1

Thank you @ישו אוהב אותך. The mistake is that when you run

keytool -genkey -v -keystore ~/upload-keystore.jks -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 -alias upload

it prompts you: Enter keystore password: It should say Create new keystore password or Enter new keystore password .

I made up a unique new password swordfish and entered it. I was prompted for my name and address and then told:

Warning:
The JKS keystore uses a proprietary format. It is recommended to migrate to PKCS12 which is an industry standard format using "keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore /Users/TDK/upload-keystore.jks -destkeystore /Users/TDK/upload-keystore.jks -deststoretype pkcs12".

So apparently there's a second item that needs to be updated in the documentation.

I ran the new command and now I see a file upload-keystore.jks in my user home directory (not in my project home directory).

I'll post a ticket with Flutter the make these two updates.