This repository is maintained by the Develocity Solutions team, as one of several publicly available repositories:

• Develocity Build Configuration Samples
• Develocity Build Validation Scripts
• Develocity Open Source Projects
• Common Custom User Data Maven Extension
• Common Custom User Data Gradle Plugin
• Common Custom User Data sbt Plugin
• Android Cache Fix Gradle Plugin (this repository)

Android Cache Fix Gradle Plugin

Some Android plugin versions have issues with Gradle's build cache feature. When applied to an Android project this plugin applies workarounds for these issues based on the Android plugin and Gradle versions. For other versions, please see older versions.

• Supported Gradle versions: 7.0+
• Supported Android Gradle Plugin versions: 7.0+, including alpha, beta, and rc versions
• Supported Kotlin versions: 1.7.0+

We only test against the latest patch versions of each minor version of Android Gradle Plugin. This means that although it may work perfectly well with an older patch version (say 7.0.1), we do not test against these older patch versions, so the latest patch version is the only version from that minor release that we technically support.

The Android cache fix plugin is compatible with the Gradle Configuration Cache when used in conjunction with Android Gradle Plugin 4.2.0 and above. Using the configuration cache with earlier versions of the Android Gradle Plugin is not supported.

Should I use this?

Take a look at the list of issues especially unresolved issues. If any of these apply to your project, you can use this plugin to solve them.

How can I discover issues?

You can discover issues by using the task input comparison tool in Develocity. More information about how to diagnose cache misses here. You can compare the inputs of a build that seeds the build cache - typically CI - with a build that consumes from the build cache like a local developer build. If you discover an issue related to the Android Gradle Plugin, please file an issue in the Android Bug Tracker. You can also file an issue here and we can see if a workaround is possible.

Applying the plugin

This plugin should be applied anywhere the com.android.application or com.android.library plugins are applied. We recommend adding the plugin to your project's conventions plugin.

Kotlin

// in build.grade.kts for convention plugin build
dependencies {
  // ...
  implementation("org.gradle.android.cache-fix:org.gradle.android.cache-fix.gradle.plugin:3.0.1")
  // ...
}

// in com.myconventions.build.gradle.kts
plugins {
    id("com.android.application") // or "com.android.library"
  // Add this next line to your existing convention plugin.
    id("org.gradle.android.cache-fix")
}

Groovy

// in build.grade for convention plugin build
dependencies {
    // ...
    implementation("org.gradle.android.cache-fix:org.gradle.android.cache-fix.gradle.plugin:3.0.1")
    // ...
}

// in com.myconventions.build.gradle
plugins {
    id 'com.android.application' // or 'com.android.library'
    // Add this next line to your existing convention plugin.
    id 'org.gradle.android.cache-fix'
}

If you are not using convention plugins and would like a quick way of testing the plugin you can alternatively place it in the root project's build.gradle (change '3.0.1' to the latest version of the cache fix plugin here). We discourage this approach because it uses cross project configuration.

Kotlin

plugins {
    id("org.gradle.android.cache-fix") version "3.0.1" apply false
}

subprojects {
    plugins.withType<com.android.build.gradle.api.AndroidBasePlugin>() {
        apply(plugin = "org.gradle.android.cache-fix")
    }
}

Groovy

plugins {
    id "org.gradle.android.cache-fix" version "3.0.1" apply false
}

subprojects {
    plugins.withType(com.android.build.gradle.api.AndroidBasePlugin) {
        project.apply plugin: "org.gradle.android.cache-fix"
    }
}

List of issues

You can take a look at the list of issues that the plugin fixes by looking at the classes in org.gradle.android.workarounds. It contains a number of Workaround implementations annotated with @AndroidIssue. The Javadoc has a short description of the problem, and the annotation gives information about when the problem was introduced, what is the first version of the Android plugin that fixes it, and there's a link to the issue on Android's issue tracker:

/**
 * Fix {@link org.gradle.api.tasks.compile.CompileOptions#getBootClasspath()} introducing relocatability problems for {@link AndroidJavaCompile}.
 */
@AndroidIssue(introducedIn = "3.0.0", fixedIn = "3.1.0-alpha06", link = "https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/68392933")
static class AndroidJavaCompile_BootClasspath_Workaround implements Workaround {
    // ...
}

Unresolved Issues

Please vote for the linked issues if you are experiencing them in your project.

Fixed by the Android Cache Fix plugin, but unresolved in any current or upcoming preview release of the Android Gradle Plugin:

Not fixed by the Android Cache Fix plugin since it has no workaround:

• CompileLibraryResourcesTask outputs contain absolute paths: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/282761461

Not fixed by the Android Cache Fix plugin since it has no workaround but is fixed in Android Gradle Plugin 8.0.0 or newer:

• MergeResources is not relocatable: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/246529491

Room

The Room annotation processor causes cache misses: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/132245929. To work around this issue, please apply the Room Gradle Plugin.

Implementation Notes

MergeNativeLibs, StripDebugSymbols, MergeJavaResources, MergeSourceSetFolders, BundleLibraryClassesJar, DataBindingMergeDependencyArtifacts, LibraryJniLibs and ZipMerging Workarounds

It has been observed that caching the MergeNativeLibsTask, StripDebugSymbols, MergeSourceSetFolders, BundleLibraryClassesJar, DataBindingMergeDependencyArtifacts, LibraryJniLibs and ZipMergingTask tasks rarely provide any significant positive avoidance savings. In fact, they frequently provide negative savings, especially when fetched from a remote cache node. As such, these workarounds disable caching for these tasks.

Older Android Gradle Plugin Versions

Use Android Cache Fix Plugin 2.4.6 when using an older Android Gradle Plugin version.

• Supported Gradle versions: 5.4.1+
• Supported Android Gradle Plugin versions: 3.5.4, 3.6.4, 4.0.1, 4.1.3, 4.2.2

Older Kotlin Gradle Plugin Versions

Use Android Cache Fix Plugin 2.6.0 when using an older Kotlin Gradle Plugin version.

• Supported Kotlin versions: [1.3.72-1.5.32]

Learn more

Visit our website to learn more about Develocity.

License

The Android Cache Fix Gradle plugin is open-source software released under the Apache 2.0 License.