Question

So I’ve got my first Android app well-developed and moving along.
I’ve got a signing key used to sign it in Eclipse for market distribution.

Now I’m looking at rebuilding my computer, but am concerned about the key.
What is the proper way to back up this key and restore it?

Can I just copy the Keystore directory with the signingkey file in it and then point Eclipse to the new directory after rebuilding next time I compile my APK?

Or is it more complicated than that?

The screen here indicates that would be the correct file to back up, correct? I just want to make sure, because I also see in the S:\Documents directory a file called .keystore .

Answer 1

The key you use to sign your apks is just a single file, and you can treat it like any other file.

You can copy it, rename it, move it around etc. without any problems, as long as you point to the new location when signing next time.

For example, my key file is called key.keystore. I created it in my home directory, but after updating from a desktop to a macbook pro, I just copied it over onto my new system. There is no need to copy the entire directory. Just the key file is required, in your case the signingkey file.

Next time you want to build a release version, just point to the new location of signingkey, and enter the password and the alias you used before.