Firebase App Distribution Upload error, Missing information about the APK path

Question

Having problems when uploading app release apk to firebase using the gradle ./gradlew appDistributionUploadRelease command in terminal. This issue started after I updated a few of my build tools, updating gms to classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.3.4' from 4.3.3, updating to classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:4.0.1' from 3.4.2, I don't know if these updates have anything to do with the issue but ehwn I run the ./gradlew appDistributionUploadRelease command now, I get an error in the build terminal

> Task :app:validateSigningRelease UP-TO-DATE
> Task :app:packageRelease UP-TO-DATE

> Task :app:appDistributionUploadRelease FAILED
Found APK at /home/****/agent/workspace/project-name/app/build/intermediates/incremental/packageRelease/tmp/app-release.apk.
Uploading APK to Firebase App Distribution...

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':app:appDistributionUploadRelease'.
> Missing information about the APK path. Please check that an APK path was passed in and try agai

I tried explicitly specifying the apkPath in the build gradle to a path with confirmed release but I am still getting this error just with the updated path

> Task :app:validateSigningRelease UP-TO-DATE
> Task :app:packageRelease UP-TO-DATE

> Task :app:appDistributionUploadRelease FAILED
Found APK at build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk.
Uploading APK to Firebase App Distribution...

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':app:appDistributionUploadRelease'.
> Missing information about the APK path. Please check that an APK path was passed in and try again

I am out of ideas on how to fix this issue as I am sure the apk exists in the specified path and the apk works when manually uploaded to firebase. Help will be appreciated.

Answer 1

Figured out the issue, this classpath 'com.google.firebase:firebase-appdistribution-gradle:2.0.1' was missing from the dependencies section in my project level build.gradle. Follow instructions here to the letter folks.