[iOS] AltStore 2.0+ stops RetroArch from installing from source JSON

[DJtheMan2101]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• This is a bug in RetroArch frontend
• I have searched the existing issues

Description

Attempting to install either the stable (https://buildbot.libretro.com/stable/altstore.json) or nightly (https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/apple/ios-arm64/altstore.json) releases of RetroArch from the source JSONs using AltStore (Classic) 2.0 or later will make AltStore give an error.

Stable version:

Nightly version:

I'm not sure about the stable error (a corrupt filter?), but the nightly error is caused by the version key in the JSON not matching the actual app version; Altstore 2.0 starting checking to make sure the strings match, as seen in its changelog: https://faq.altstore.io/release-notes/altstore#altstore-2.0. (The stable build should have the same problem, I'm not sure why it's different.)

I looked at AltStore's documentation, specifically https://faq.altstore.io/developers/make-a-source and https://faq.altstore.io/developers/updating-apps. I'm not a developer, but I assume the current JSONs only used the version key to let AltStore know that a new build was available. It seems you can use the new buildVersion key to do that instead. It looks like you also have to list the app permissions in the JSON before AltStore will install apps. I'm not sure if updating the JSONs will break support for older versions and forks of AltStore (like SideStore).

Expected behavior

I should be able to use the provided JSON files to install RetroArch from newer versions of AltStore.

Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Install and open AltStore (Classic).
2. In the Sources tab, tap the + in the top-left corner, then paste a link to one of RetroArch's source JSON files.
3. Try to install RetroArch from the newly added source.
4. Receive an error.

Version/Commit

1.20.0

Bisect Results

No response

Check in the nightly version

Yes, this is reproduced in the nightly build

Platform & operating system

iOS 18.2.1

Affected Cores

No response

Environment information

AltStore Classic 2.0.2

Relevant log output

No response

[dessite]

Same issue occurs while sideloading .ipa file from computer

[DJtheMan2101]

@dessite Sideloading the nightly ipa directly works fine for me. You may have to restart or reinstall AltStore/AltServer/your device. This issue is about installing from the JSONs not working because of the problems I mentioned.

[hizzlekizzle]

There's apparently funky about that one file. Warmenhoven suspects it's related to "extended attributes." If you open the ipa as an archive and delete it, it should install okay.

[warmenhoven]

For the JSON I thought I had fixed this so that the version reported by the nightly build would be modified to be the date, but maybe that got broken during the App Store stuff. (In other words, I think the JSON is right and the IPA is wrong.)

For the other error message about the .filt file, I don't know why it's choking on that one; in the git repo it looks the same as any other file. Unfortunately trying to debug why altstore chokes on something like that, when Xcode and the App Store don't (Sideloadly works fine as well), is really hard.

[warmenhoven]

It looks like altstore is looking at the CFBundleShortVersionString now in addition to/instead of the CFBundleVersion? Anyway I've made a change to the packaging script to try and get everything to match up. Can you try again tomorrow and let me know if it's working?

[DJtheMan2101]

@warmenhoven When installing the nightly, the version mismatch error doesn't appear anymore. You get a scary warning about permissions (AltStore expects those to be declared in the JSON) but the nightly build otherwise installs fine from the source JSON. RetroArch (in the app itself) now reports its version as the nightly build date e.g. 1.20250126.0006 instead of 1.20.0; not sure if that's intended.

The stable version still gives the error about the .filt file (I see its JSON file hasn't changed). Interestingly, I get the same error when sideloading the stable ipa; maybe letting the buildbot recompile it would fix it? (I don't know how long that issue has existed since I usually only sideload nightly versions.)