Setup ACRA Backend With Acralyzer On CouchDB (Ubuntu)

November 28, 2017

Application Crash Reports for Android

Install CouchDB (latest) for Ubuntu

Enabling the Apache CouchDB package repository.

Replace trusty (Ubuntu 14.04) with xenial if you are running Ubuntu 16.04.

echo "deb https://apache.bintray.com/couchdb-deb trusty main" \
    | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

Install the repository key, update the repository cache and install the package.

curl -L https://couchdb.apache.org/repo/bintray-pubkey.asc \
    | sudo apt-key add -

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install couchdb

During installation you shall be promoted for a few things.

Setup: select Standalone / Single Node, since we shall only use single database server.
IP: use 0.0.0.0 (since we require external access to submit crash report and view report, 127.0.0.1 only allow local access)
Admin Password: pick a strong password as external party access the login.

If you forgotten to setup the IP properly (default is 127.0.0.1), edit /opt/couchdb/etc/local.ini (used to be /etc/couchdb/local.ini).

[chttpd]
;port = 5984
bind_address = 0.0.0.0

Restart if IP is changed.

sudo service couchdb restart

Test if CouchDB can be access accessed.

curl http://[SERVER]:5984/

Setup Acralyzer

Access CouchDB Web UI Fauxton at http://[SERVER]:5984/_utils/, login with the admin username and password.

From the left menu, select Replication -> New Replication.

CouchDB New Replcation

First we shall create the database for our app.

Replication Source: Remote Database
Database URL: http://get.acralyzer.com/distrib-acra-storage
Replication Target: New Local Database
New Database: acra-myapp (you can replace myapp with anything, but the database name must start with acra-)
Replication Type: One time

CouchDB Replication

Then we shall create the database for Acralyzer.

Replication Source: Remote Database
Database URL: http://get.acralyzer.com/distrib-acralyzer
Replication Target: New Local Database
New Database: acralyzer
Replication Type: One time

Secure access to database

TIPS: If no members (Users or Roles) are defined, the database is public.

The replication could take up to 5 minutes or more, you can check the status at Replication or Databases from the left menu.

CouchDB Replication Done

From the left menu, select Databases, find acra-myapp and click on Security / Set permission for (Lock icon).

CouchDB Database

Select Database -> Security -> Members -> Roles, fille in “reader” and click Add Role.

CouchDB Secure

Create `Reporter` user

Access Acralyser UI at http://[SERVER]:5984/acralyzer/_design/acralyzer/index.html.

Click Admin -> Users -> Create a new Reporter user, key in User name and password and click Create user.

Acralyser Add Reporter

Setup Android App

Setup gradle dependencies: compile 'ch.acra:acra:4.8.5'. (check latest version)

In you Android Application class, use the following code.

@ReportsCrashes(
    httpMethod = HttpSender.Method.PUT,
    reportType = HttpSender.Type.JSON,
    formUri = "http://[SERVER]:5984/acra-[myapp]/_design/acra-storage/_update/report",
    formUriBasicAuthLogin = "[REPORTER_USERNAME]",
    formUriBasicAuthPassword = "[REPORTER_PASSWORD]"
)
public class MyApplication extends Application {
    @Override
    public final void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();
        ACRA.init(this);
    }
}

References:

By Desmond Lua

A dream boy who enjoys programming and travelling, maker of Travelopy. Follow me on @d_luaz.

Tags:

Install CouchDB (latest) for Ubuntu

Setup Acralyzer

Secure access to database

Create Reporter user

Setup Android App

Create `Reporter` user