Build android release apk without signing

From @ZuSe on March 12, 2018 13:18

We are using Jenkins for building, signing and uploading our native android apps.
As the keyStore containing our signing key is saved within the jenkins credentials manager I would also like to use the same process for our NativeScript-App.
Unfortunately I am not able to build an unsigned release APK (as you can do for example in Android Studio) using the tns command.

tns build android --release requires the specification of the keystore (which might not be installed on the building machine)
I would therefore suggest to let it build an unsigned-release.apk file similar to Android Studio / gradle assembleXXXRelease command which can then be signed by whatever key signer is preferred.
In case the key-path parameter is specified it should use the existing process but not require it per se.

Best
Patrick

Copied from original issue: NativeScript/NativeScript#5526

Start by tracing the tns build android --release entry point and its key-path handling. Compare the requested behavior with Android Studio/gradle assembleXXXRelease, then verify that a release APK can be produced without a keystore while the existing key-path flow still works.