[stealth 03/11] Stealth Lantern: randomize Android build identity

[reflog]

Summary

• add a deterministic/random Stealth Android identity profile generator
• wire Android Gradle to consume profile values for applicationId, labels, auth scheme, metadata, BuildConfig, manifest placeholders, and app name resValue
• move VPN session, notification, and quick settings tile visible labels to generated BuildConfig values
• add neutral Android icon resources, Make/CI wiring, docs, and generator tests

Dependency / non-goals

This closes getlantern/engineering#3566 for per-build install identity and native Android identity surfaces. Static inspection can still find source namespace/class/action strings such as org.getlantern and LanternVpnService until the manifest/source minimization work lands; this PR intentionally depends on getlantern/engineering#3571 for that broader minimization instead of expanding this branch.

Verification

• python3 -m unittest discover -s scripts/stealth -p '*_test.py'
• make android-identity-profile BUILD_TYPE=stealth ANDROID_IDENTITY_SEED=issue-8765-test
• make -n android-apk-release BUILD_TYPE=stealth ANDROID_IDENTITY_SEED=issue-8765-test
• python3 -m py_compile scripts/stealth/generate_android_identity.py scripts/stealth/generate_android_identity_test.py
• git diff --check

Closes getlantern/engineering#3566

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds build-time “identity profiles” for Stealth Android builds so each artifact can have a distinct install identity (applicationId, labels, scheme, icons, and various user-visible strings), while keeping normal builds on the existing Lantern identity.

Changes:

• Introduces a Python generator + unit tests to produce deterministic (seeded) or random Android identity .properties profiles.
• Wires Android Gradle/manifest placeholders + BuildConfig fields to consume identity profile values (applicationId, labels, auth scheme, metadata, notification/tile strings, icons).
• Adds Make/CI/docs plumbing and neutral icon resources to support reproducible Stealth builds.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 13 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
scripts/stealth/generate_android_identity.py	Generates Android identity profiles (applicationId, labels, metadata, icons, strings).
scripts/stealth/generate_android_identity_test.py	Unit tests for deterministic/random generation and properties output.
Makefile	Adds identity profile generation and injects ANDROID_IDENTITY_PROFILE into Flutter Android builds.
docs/stealth-android-identity.md	Documents how to generate/use identity profiles and schema.
android/app/src/main/res/values/string.xml	Removes static app_name so Gradle resValue can control it per build.
android/app/src/main/res/drawable/neutral_notification_icon.xml	Adds neutral notification small icon vector.
android/app/src/main/res/drawable/neutral_app_icon.xml	Adds neutral app icon vector.
android/app/src/main/kotlin/org/getlantern/lantern/service/QuickTileService.kt	Uses BuildConfig-provided quick settings tile labels.
android/app/src/main/kotlin/org/getlantern/lantern/service/LanternVpnService.kt	Uses BuildConfig-provided VPN session name.
android/app/src/main/kotlin/org/getlantern/lantern/notification/NotificationManager.kt	Uses BuildConfig-provided notification strings + resolves small icon from BuildConfig.
android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml	Switches app labels/icons/schemes to manifest placeholders; adds identity meta-data placeholders.
android/app/build.gradle	Loads identity profile, validates applicationId, sets manifest placeholders, resValue app_name, and BuildConfig fields.
.github/workflows/build-android.yml	Adds optional android_identity_seed input passed through to builds.

---

💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 13 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 13 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 13 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 13 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 16 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 16 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 16 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 16 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

lib/lantern_app.dart:199

• _buildPrivateServerAccessKey() now accepts any AppBuildInfo.appAuthScheme URI, but still normalizes the returned access key to a hardcoded lantern//... prefix and the comment/example also hardcode lantern://.... If the intention is to preserve the randomized scheme end-to-end (or to avoid leaking "lantern" into a user-visible access key), update the normalization and comment to use AppBuildInfo.appAuthScheme (or add an explicit comment explaining why the lantern// prefix must remain constant).

    if (AppBuildInfo.isAppAuthUri(uri)) {
      // lantern://private-server?key=value → lantern//private-server?key=value
      var accessKey = 'lantern//${uri.host}';
      if (uri.hasQuery) {
        accessKey += '?${uri.query}';
      }
      return accessKey;

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 16 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 16 out of 16 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

[reflog]

@copilot review

[Copilot]

@copilot review

Ran a fresh review pass on commit ad2f3e4; there are no new actionable findings to address in this branch.

[reflog]

Integration Notes for #8781 → Integration PR #8794

These items require attention when integrating this branch:

1. buildConfigString deduplication

buildConfigString is defined in both #8781 (android/app/build.gradle) and #8784 (the foundation build-profile PR). The integrator should dedupe to #8784's version — it has more complete escaping logic. Remove the duplicate definition from the #8781 contribution at integration time.

2. defaultConfig.applicationId + manifestPlaceholders collision

Both #8781 and #8784 set defaultConfig.applicationId and populate manifestPlaceholders. Reconcile to a single identity source at integration: the architectural intent is applicationId = stealthProfile.packageName (from #8784's profile plumbing), with #8781's identity profile providing all other placeholders. Do not have two blocks clobbering each other at integration.

[reflog]

Addressing remaining review comments.

[reflog]

.

[reflog]

Superseded — the 11 per-issue stealth PRs were consolidated into a 6-PR stack for epic getlantern/engineering#3569. This work now lives in #8860.