The `file` command checks only the first few bytes, and doesn’t parse the structure of the file. APK files are indeed reported as Zip archives by the latest version of `file`.
This is false in every sense for https://www.darwinsys.com/file/ (probably the most used file version). It depends on the magic for a specific file, but it can check any part of your file. Many Linux distros are years out of date, you might be using a very old version.
FILE_45:
./src/file -m magic/magic.mgc ../../OpenCalc.v2.3.1.apk
../../OpenCalc.v2.3.1.apk: Android package (APK), with zipflinger virtual entry, with APK Signing Block
Interesting! I checked with file 5.44 from Ubuntu 23.10 and 5.45 on macOS using homebrew, and in both cases, I got “Zip archive data, at least v2.0 to extract” for the file here[1]. I don’t have an Android phone to check and I’m also not familiar with Android tooling, so is this a corrupt APK?
I also tried this with the sources of file from the homepage you linked above, and I still get the same results.
You could try this for yourself using the same APKPure file which I uploaded at the following alternative link[1]. Further, while this could be a corrupt APK, I can’t see any signs of that from a cursory inspection as both the `classes.dex` and `META-INF` directory are present, and this is APKPure’s own APK, instead of an APK contributed for an app contributed by a third-party.
