How to ignore hidden directories in Android build.gradle

Question

I've recently updated an existing Android project to use Android Studio, and haven't been able to get it to build:

Execution failed for task ':mergeDebugResources'.
> Index: 0

After some experimenting I've found that it's choking on our source control's hidden directories, .arch-ids, which exist in every folder.

I've tried manipulating build.gradle with the exclude keyword, to no avail:

sourceSets {
    main {
        manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'
        java {
            srcDirs = ['src']
            exclude '**/.arch-ids/*'
        }
        resources {
            srcDirs 'src'
            exclude '**/.arch-ids/*'
        }
        aidl.srcDirs = ['src']
        renderscript.srcDirs = ['src']
        res {
            srcDirs = ['res']
        }
        assets.srcDirs = ['assets']
    }

    instrumentTest.setRoot('tests')
}

The 'res' part seems to be the culprit at the moment, but it doesn't support the 'exclude' keyword.

Answer 1

You may try something like:

android {
    ...
    sourceSets {
        main {
            ...
            res.srcDirs = ['build/filtered_resources']
            ...
        }
...
}

and then task dependency to use filtered resources copy:

task __filteredResources(type:Copy) {
    from('res/') {
        exclude '**/.arch-ids/*'
    }
    into 'build/filtered_resources'
    includeEmptyDirs = true
}

tasks.whenTaskAdded { task ->
    if (task.name == 'generateBuildConfig') {
        task.dependsOn __filteredResources
    }
}