Android release Build failing due to shrinkReleaseMultiDexComponents

Question

I'm having real difficulties building a release version of my app.

This is part of the output I get when running ./gradlew assembleRelease --stacktrace --debug

In Android Studio it spits out the same thing and I've crawled the net but haven't found a solution for this.

17:57:41.664 [INFO] [org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipUpToDateTaskExecuter] Executing task ':app:shrinkReleaseMultiDexComponents' (up-to-date check took 0.002 secs) due to:
  No history is available.
17:57:41.665 [DEBUG] [org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter] Executing actions for task ':app:shrinkReleaseMultiDexComponents'.
17:57:41.717 [INFO] [system.out] ProGuard, version 5.2.1
17:57:41.745 [DEBUG] [org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteAtMostOnceTaskExecuter] Finished executing task ':app:shrinkReleaseMultiDexComponents'
17:57:41.745 [LIFECYCLE] [class org.gradle.TaskExecutionLogger] :app:shrinkReleaseMultiDexComponents FAILED
17:57:41.746 [INFO] [org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.AbstractTaskPlanExecutor] :app:shrinkReleaseMultiDexComponents (Thread[main,5,main]) completed. Took 0.091 secs.
17:57:41.747 [DEBUG] [org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.AbstractTaskPlanExecutor] Task worker [Thread[main,5,main]] finished, busy: 8.329 secs, idle: 0.049 secs
17:57:41.771 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] 
17:57:41.774 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.
17:57:41.774 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] 
17:57:41.775 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] * What went wrong:
17:57:41.775 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] Execution failed for task ':app:shrinkReleaseMultiDexComponents'.
17:57:41.782 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] > java.io.IOException: The output jar [/Users/jacob/Documents/MyApp/app/build/intermediates/multi-dex/release/componentClasses.jar] must be specified after an input jar, or it will be empty.
17:57:41.783 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] 
17:57:41.795 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] * Exception is:
17:57:41.797 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskExecutionException: Execution failed for task ':app:shrinkReleaseMultiDexComponents'.
17:57:41.797 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeActions(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:69)
17:57:41.797 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.execute(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:46)
17:57:41.798 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.PostExecutionAnalysisTaskExecuter.execute(PostExecutionAnalysisTaskExecuter.java:35)
17:57:41.798 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipUpToDateTaskExecuter.execute(SkipUpToDateTaskExecuter.java:64)
17:57:41.798 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ValidatingTaskExecuter.execute(ValidatingTaskExecuter.java:58)
17:57:41.799 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipEmptySourceFilesTaskExecuter.execute(SkipEmptySourceFilesTaskExecuter.java:42)
17:57:41.799 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipTaskWithNoActionsExecuter.execute(SkipTaskWithNoActionsExecuter.java:52)
17:57:41.799 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipOnlyIfTaskExecuter.execute(SkipOnlyIfTaskExecuter.java:53)
17:57:41.799 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteAtMostOnceTaskExecuter.execute(ExecuteAtMostOnceTaskExecuter.java:43)
17:57:41.800 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.AbstractTask.executeWithoutThrowingTaskFailure(AbstractTask.java:305)
17:57:41.800 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.AbstractTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker.executeTask(AbstractTaskPlanExecutor.java:79)
17:57:41.800 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.AbstractTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker.processTask(AbstractTaskPlanExecutor.java:63)
17:57:41.800 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.AbstractTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker.run(AbstractTaskPlanExecutor.java:51)
17:57:41.800 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.process(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:23)
17:57:41.801 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskGraphExecuter.execute(DefaultTaskGraphExecuter.java:88)
17:57:41.801 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.SelectedTaskExecutionAction.execute(SelectedTaskExecutionAction.java:29)
17:57:41.801 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.DefaultBuildExecuter.execute(DefaultBuildExecuter.java:62)
17:57:41.801 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.DefaultBuildExecuter.access$200(DefaultBuildExecuter.java:23)
17:57:41.802 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.DefaultBuildExecuter$2.proceed(DefaultBuildExecuter.java:68)
17:57:41.802 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.DryRunBuildExecutionAction.execute(DryRunBuildExecutionAction.java:32)
17:57:41.802 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.DefaultBuildExecuter.execute(DefaultBuildExecuter.java:62)
17:57:41.802 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.execution.DefaultBuildExecuter.execute(DefaultBuildExecuter.java:55)
17:57:41.802 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultGradleLauncher.doBuildStages(DefaultGradleLauncher.java:149)
17:57:41.803 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultGradleLauncher.doBuild(DefaultGradleLauncher.java:106)
17:57:41.803 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.initialization.DefaultGradleLauncher.run(DefaultGradleLauncher.java:86)
17:57:41.803 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.exec.InProcessBuildActionExecuter$DefaultBuildController.run(InProcessBuildActionExecuter.java:80)
17:57:41.804 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.cli.ExecuteBuildAction.run(ExecuteBuildAction.java:33)
17:57:41.804 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.cli.ExecuteBuildAction.run(ExecuteBuildAction.java:24)
17:57:41.804 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.exec.InProcessBuildActionExecuter.execute(InProcessBuildActionExecuter.java:36)
17:57:41.804 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.exec.InProcessBuildActionExecuter.execute(InProcessBuildActionExecuter.java:26)
17:57:41.805 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.cli.RunBuildAction.run(RunBuildAction.java:51)
17:57:41.807 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.internal.Actions$RunnableActionAdapter.execute(Actions.java:171)
17:57:41.807 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.cli.CommandLineActionFactory$ParseAndBuildAction.execute(CommandLineActionFactory.java:237)
17:57:41.809 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.cli.CommandLineActionFactory$ParseAndBuildAction.execute(CommandLineActionFactory.java:210)
17:57:41.810 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.cli.JavaRuntimeValidationAction.execute(JavaRuntimeValidationAction.java:35)
17:57:41.810 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.cli.JavaRuntimeValidationAction.execute(JavaRuntimeValidationAction.java:24)
17:57:41.811 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.cli.CommandLineActionFactory$WithLogging.execute(CommandLineActionFactory.java:206)
17:57:41.812 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.cli.CommandLineActionFactory$WithLogging.execute(CommandLineActionFactory.java:169)
17:57:41.813 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.cli.ExceptionReportingAction.execute(ExceptionReportingAction.java:33)
17:57:41.814 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.cli.ExceptionReportingAction.execute(ExceptionReportingAction.java:22)
17:57:41.814 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.Main.doAction(Main.java:33)
17:57:41.815 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.bootstrap.EntryPoint.run(EntryPoint.java:45)
17:57:41.815 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.bootstrap.ProcessBootstrap.runNoExit(ProcessBootstrap.java:54)
17:57:41.816 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.bootstrap.ProcessBootstrap.run(ProcessBootstrap.java:35)
17:57:41.816 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.launcher.GradleMain.main(GradleMain.java:23)
17:57:41.817 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.wrapper.BootstrapMainStarter.start(BootstrapMainStarter.java:33)
17:57:41.818 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.wrapper.WrapperExecutor.execute(WrapperExecutor.java:130)
17:57:41.819 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.wrapper.GradleWrapperMain.main(GradleWrapperMain.java:48)
17:57:41.819 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] Caused by: org.gradle.internal.UncheckedException: java.io.IOException: The output jar [/Users/jacob/Documents/MyApp/app/build/intermediates/multi-dex/release/componentClasses.jar] must be specified after an input jar, or it will be empty.
17:57:41.819 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.internal.UncheckedException.throwAsUncheckedException(UncheckedException.java:39)
17:57:41.819 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaMethod.invoke(JavaMethod.java:66)
17:57:41.820 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.AnnotationProcessingTaskFactory$StandardTaskAction.doExecute(AnnotationProcessingTaskFactory.java:218)
17:57:41.820 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.AnnotationProcessingTaskFactory$StandardTaskAction.execute(AnnotationProcessingTaskFactory.java:211)
17:57:41.820 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.AnnotationProcessingTaskFactory$StandardTaskAction.execute(AnnotationProcessingTaskFactory.java:200)
17:57:41.820 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.AbstractTask$TaskActionWrapper.execute(AbstractTask.java:579)
17:57:41.821 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.AbstractTask$TaskActionWrapper.execute(AbstractTask.java:562)
17:57:41.821 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeAction(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:80)
17:57:41.821 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeActions(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:61)
17:57:41.821 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    ... 47 more
17:57:41.821 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] Caused by: java.io.IOException: The output jar [/Users/jacob/Documents/MyApp/app/build/intermediates/multi-dex/release/componentClasses.jar] must be specified after an input jar, or it will be empty.
17:57:41.822 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at proguard.ConfigurationChecker.check(ConfigurationChecker.java:64)
17:57:41.822 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at proguard.ProGuard.execute(ProGuard.java:73)
17:57:41.822 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at proguard.gradle.ProGuardTask.proguard(ProGuardTask.java:1074)
17:57:41.822 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaMethod.invoke(JavaMethod.java:63)
17:57:41.822 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter]    ... 54 more
17:57:41.823 [ERROR] [org.gradle.BuildExceptionReporter] 
17:57:41.823 [LIFECYCLE] [org.gradle.BuildResultLogger] 
17:57:41.823 [LIFECYCLE] [org.gradle.BuildResultLogger] BUILD FAILED
17:57:41.823 [LIFECYCLE] [org.gradle.BuildResultLogger] 
17:57:41.823 [LIFECYCLE] [org.gradle.BuildResultLogger] Total time: 25.463 secs

This is my config

buildscript {
    repositories {
        maven { url 'https://maven.fabric.io/public' }
    }

    dependencies {
        classpath 'io.fabric.tools:gradle:1.+'
    }
}

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
apply plugin: 'io.fabric'

repositories {
    maven { url 'https://maven.fabric.io/public' }
}

android {
    compileSdkVersion 23
    buildToolsVersion "23.0.1"
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.MyApp"
        minSdkVersion 16
        targetSdkVersion 23
        versionCode 9
        versionName "0.9.3"
        multiDexEnabled = true
    }
    packagingOptions {
        exclude 'META-INF/NOTICE'
        exclude 'META-INF/DEPENDENCIES.txt'
        exclude 'META-INF/LICENSE.txt'
        exclude 'META-INF/NOTICE.txt'
        exclude 'META-INF/NOTICE'
        exclude 'META-INF/LICENSE'
        exclude 'META-INF/DEPENDENCIES'
        exclude 'META-INF/notice.txt'
        exclude 'META-INF/license.txt'
        exclude 'META-INF/dependencies.txt'
        exclude 'META-INF/LGPL2.1'
    }
    useLibrary 'org.apache.http.legacy'
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled true
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'),
                    'proguard-android-optimize.txt'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    compile files('libs/org.apache.http.legacy.jar')

    compile 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient-android:4.3.5'
    compile('org.apache.httpcomponents:httpmime:4.3.5') {
        exclude module: 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient'
    }

    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.0.1'
    compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:7.5.0'
    compile 'com.mixpanel.android:mixpanel-android:4.6.2'
    compile 'com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:23.0.1'
    compile 'com.facebook.android:facebook-android-sdk:4.1.0'
    compile 'com.soundcloud.android:android-crop:1.0.0@aar'
    compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:23.0.1'
    compile('com.crashlytics.sdk.android:crashlytics:2.5.1@aar') {
        transitive = true;
    }
}

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

I am facing exactly the same problem and I have been able to build the signed apk just disabling the minifyEnable in the release buildType:

minifyEnabled false

UPDATE:

I have been able to fix the problem adding the following to the proguard configuration (proguard-rules.pro file):

-dontwarn javax.naming.**

This will clean/skip all the warnings when compiling and fix the problem in my side.

Answer 2

Proguard that fixed the issue for me

The following proguard configuration file ended up doing the trick for me.

# This is a configuration file for ProGuard.
# http://proguard.sourceforge.net/index.html#manual/usage.html

# Optimizations: If you don't want to optimize, use the
# proguard-android.txt configuration file instead of this one, which
# turns off the optimization flags.  Adding optimization introduces
# certain risks, since for example not all optimizations performed by
# ProGuard works on all versions of Dalvik.  The following flags turn
# off various optimizations known to have issues, but the list may not
# be complete or up to date. (The "arithmetic" optimization can be
# used if you are only targeting Android 2.0 or later.)  Make sure you
# test thoroughly if you go this route.

-optimizations !code/simplification/arithmetic,!code/simplification/cast,!field/*,!class/merging/*
-optimizationpasses 5
-allowaccessmodification
-dontpreverify

# The remainder of this file is identical to the non-optimized version
# of the Proguard configuration file (except that the other file has
# flags to turn off optimization).

-dontusemixedcaseclassnames
-dontskipnonpubliclibraryclasses
-verbose

-dontwarn javax.xml.**
-keepattributes *Annotation*
-keep public class com.google.vending.licensing.ILicensingService
-keep public class com.android.vending.licensing.ILicensingService

# For native methods, see http://proguard.sourceforge.net/manual/examples.html#native
-keepclasseswithmembernames class * {
    native <methods>;
}

# keep setters in Views so that animations can still work.
# see http://proguard.sourceforge.net/manual/examples.html#beans
-keepclassmembers public class * extends android.view.View {
   void set*(***);
   *** get*();
}

# We want to keep methods in Activity that could be used in the XML attribute onClick
-keepclassmembers class * extends android.app.Activity {
   public void *(android.view.View);
}

# For enumeration classes, see http://proguard.sourceforge.net/manual/examples.html#enumerations
-keepclassmembers enum * {
    public static **[] values();
    public static ** valueOf(java.lang.String);
}

-keep class * implements android.os.Parcelable {
  public static final android.os.Parcelable$Creator *;
}

-keepclassmembers class **.R$* {
    public static <fields>;
}

-keepattributes SourceFile,LineNumberTable

-dontusemixedcaseclassnames
-dontskipnonpubliclibraryclasses
-verbose

-keep class android.support.v4.app.** { *; }
-keep interface android.support.v4.app.** { *; }
-keep class android.support.v7.app.** { *; }
-keep interface android.support.v7.app.** { *; }

-keepattributes Signature
-keep class com.crashlytics.** { *; }
-dontwarn com.crashlytics.**

-keep class org.apache.http.** { *; }
-keep class org.apache.commons.codec.** { *; }
-keep class org.apache.commons.logging.** { *; }
-keep class android.net.compatibility.** { *; }
-keep class android.net.http.** { *; }
-keep class com.android.internal.http.multipart.** { *; }
-dontwarn org.apache.http.**
-dontwarn android.webkit.**

-dontwarn org.apache.http.**
-dontwarn android.net.http.AndroidHttpClient
-dontwarn com.google.android.gms.**
-dontwarn com.android.volley.toolbox.**

-dontwarn soundcloud.android.crop.*
-dontwarn org.apache.**
-dontwarn android.webkit.**
-dontwarn com.mixpanel.android.**
-dontwarn com.google.android.**

-dontwarn java.lang.invoke**
-dontwarn org.apache.lang.**
-dontwarn org.apache.commons.**

-keep class com.MyApp.subscreens.Search

-keep class android.support.v7.widget.** { *; }

# The support library contains references to newer platform versions.
# Don't warn about those in case this app is linking against an older
# platform version.  We know about them, and they are safe.
-dontwarn android.support.**

Answer 3

Make sure the input jar does exists. Since the problem

proguard.ConfigurationChecker.check(ConfigurationChecker.java:64)

happens to me with proguard 5.2.1 when injars are empty (files do not exist or not found). So for example

task proguard(type: ProGuardTask) {    
  injars inputJar
  outjars outPutJar
  ...
}

if inputJar doesn't exist then ConfigurationChecker will complain.

I looked at the code and found that ProGuardTask adds jars to classpath if they do exist or if they are outputs. Check line 1180 of the ProGuardTask.java at http://grepcode.com/file/repo1.maven.org/maven2/net.sf.proguard/proguard-gradle/5.2.1/proguard/gradle/ProGuardTask.java?av=f#1180

while (fileIterator.hasNext())
{
     File file = (File)fileIterator.next();
     if (output || file.exists())
     {
         //skip
         classPath.add(classPathEntry);
      }
}