Remove Android permissions that plugins inject; bump serious_python to 4.5.1

[FeodorFitsner]

Setting an Android permission to false had no effect on permissions that arrive from somewhere other than the app's own configuration. The template only skipped emitting the <uses-permission> entry, so anything contributed by Gradle's manifest merger — which folds in the manifest of every Flutter plugin, and also synthesises permissions on its own — passed straight through with no way to stop it.

The bug in practice

Flet Studio removed every storage permission from its pyproject.toml in #6740, and READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE / WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE still shipped to Google Play. The merger report explains why:

uses-permission#android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
ADDED from [:camera_android_camerax] .../AndroidManifest.xml:11:5-13:38

uses-permission#android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
IMPLIED from .../AndroidManifest.xml reason: io.flutter.plugins.camerax requested WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

flet-camera pulls in camera_android_camerax, which declares WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE bounded to maxSdkVersion="28" — correct on its part. The merger then implies READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE from it, because write access implied read access before API 19.

The implied entry carries no maxSdkVersion. So a properly bounded permission quietly produces an unbounded one — precisely the shape Google Play's storage policy objects to, and neither name appears anywhere in the app's config.

The fix

Permissions set to false now render as:

<uses-permission android:name="..." tools:node="remove" />

and the template's <manifest> gained the tools namespace. This strips them during the merge rather than merely declining to add them.

[tool.flet.android.permission]
"android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" = false
"android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" = false

Why changing false is safe

false never had another meaning to change. No permission is set to False by flet's own defaults (android_permissions defaults to just INTERNET: True) or by any cross-platform permission bundle — only android_features uses False, through a separate template loop. So false can only come from an explicit user declaration, where removal is the evident intent.

Removing a permission that nothing declares is a no-op, so false stays safe for names no plugin contributes. Both entry points agree: --android-permissions X=false parses through parse_cli_bool_value to a real bool.

Verification

Against the real plugin set, on Flet Studio's release APK:

	Permissions
before	11, incl. both storage entries
after	9, neither present

Confirmed in aapt2 dump permissions on the built APK and in the merged manifest; every other permission intact.

Also in this PR

• serious_python 4.4.2 → 4.5.1 in the build template.
• Bundled python-build snapshot re-pinned 20260727 → 20260730 (dart_bridge 1.7.1).

serious_python 4.5.1 tracks the same python-build release (pythonReleaseDate = "20260730"), so PYTHON_BUILD_RELEASE_DATE stays in sync as the comment on that constant requires. 4.5.1 is published on pub.dev.

Docs

New section: Removing a permission a plugin adds, covering the camerax example, how to read manifest-merger-release-report.txt to find where any permission came from, and a caution that removing one a plugin genuinely needs turns a build-time concern into a runtime failure.

78 flet-cli tests pass.

Summary by Sourcery

Actively remove Android permissions disabled in configuration during manifest merge and align bundled Python tooling versions.

Bug Fixes:

• Ensure Android permissions set to false in flet configuration are removed from the merged manifest, including those introduced or synthesized by Flutter plugins.

Enhancements:

• Document how to remove plugin-added Android permissions and how to trace their origins via Gradle’s manifest merge report.
• Update Android manifest template to declare the tools namespace and emit removal nodes for disabled permissions.

Build:

• Bump serious_python dependency to 4.5.1 in the build template and re-pin the bundled python-build snapshot to the 20260730 release.

Documentation:

• Expand Android publishing docs with guidance on removing plugin-added permissions and locating their sources in manifest merger reports.

[sourcery-ai]

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