CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidgradleandroid-gradle-plugin
spierce7
spierce7

Reputation: 15746

Multiple Android Projects with Common Library Projects?

I have multiple Android applications, and I've created a common Android library project, and a common Java library project (The Android library project compiles the java one). These libraries are filled with common components that I use for all my Android apps.

I'm using gradle as my build system.

I'm using git for versioning.

What would be the best way to link everything together? Keep in mind things are still being added / changed in the library, and I need a way to propagate changes to all the Android apps. Copy / Paste wouldn't be a great option. I've tried a few things, and they aren't working out very well, so I'd love some input.

EDIT: It's probably also worth mentioning that multiple people are working on these projects. It's not just me.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 190

Answers (1)

Scott Barta
Scott Barta

Reputation: 80010

The current version of Android Studio has a limitation that all of its modules must be under the project's root directory in the filesystem, and this limitation hampers a lot of people in your situation, because frequently they want those common libraries to live someplace else. It seems like this is the case for you as well.

We're in the process of lifting this limitation in Android Studio, and soon you'll be able to have modules outside the project root. I think this might be the best solution for you -- you can pull your common libraries from wherever makes sense in source control, put them wherever makes sense in your filesystem, and link them up into whatever projects need them. However, this isn't available yet, but will show up in v0.5.0, which will hopefully go out this week. I haven't personally tested it in our dev builds and can't vouch for how well it works, but at any rate it should be coming along soon.

Some developers have worked around the limitations by adding script to their settings.gradle files to set different module root directories. They say it works, but I find it a little scary because the IDE just isn't expecting things to work that way, and I don't know for sure if there are problems with it.

If you read other answers to this question on Stack Overflow, they're written before this feature was implemented and will have different advice. If you don't want to wait for 0.5.0 or there are problems in it that prevent you from using it, you can follow that general advice, which is to have your common code compile to libraries that you publish to a Maven repository (which can be local to your machine or common to the developers in your group), and pick up those libraries with Maven-style dependency statements in the projects that need them. This has the disadvantage that you'll need to open up separate projects to edit the code in those libraries, along with a more complex build process, but it will work.

Upvotes: 2

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