Issue with AndroidManifest.xml in Android Studio 3.0

Question

I recently installed Android Studio 3.0 from the Canary channel. However, loading my old projects, this keeps on popping up in the AndroidManifest.xml file that's automatically generated depending on the build variant:

Error:(49) unknown element <uses-sdk> found

This also is displayed:

Error:/home/computername/AndroidStudioProjects/applicationname/app/build/intermediates/manifests/full/release/AndroidManifest.xml:49 unknown element <uses-sdk> found

Needless to say, this wasn't an issue in Android Studio 2.3. Any ideas on how to solve this? I've read a handful of similar issues here but none solved my problem. By the way - it doesn't matter if I set the build variant to debug or release, it says the same thing. Also, the "R" class doesn't work, and if I hover over the manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android declaration, it says "URI is not registered".

Again, the project structure hasn't changed at all, I've only upgraded to Android Studio 3.0.

Thanks!

Here's the AndroidManifest.xml file that is under the /src/main folder, which works perfectly fine. The problem is with the generated AndroidManifest.xml files in the /app/build/intermediates/manifests/full folder - THESE are the ones that break my app.

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        package="com.domain.appname">`

        <application
            android:allowBackup="true"
            android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:supportsRtl="true"
            android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
            <activity android:name=".view.MainActivity"
                android:noHistory="true">
                <intent-filter>
                    <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                    <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
                </intent-filter>
            </activity>
            <activity
                android:name=".view.TabbedActivity"
                android:label="@string/app_name"
                android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar"
                android:screenOrientation="landscape"
                android:configChanges="keyboardHidden|orientation|screenSize"
                android:noHistory="true">

            </activity>
        </application>

        <!-- PROTECTION_NORMAL permissions, automatically granted -->
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE" />
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

        <!-- DANGEROUS PERMISSIONS, must request -->
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

    </manifest>

Here's the way the debug or release auto-generated Manifests that don't work look like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.domain.appname"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="21"
        android:targetSdkVersion="25" />

    <!-- PROTECTION_NORMAL permissions, automatically granted -->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

    <!-- DANGEROUS PERMISSIONS, must request -->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

    <meta-data
        android:name="android.support.VERSION"
        android:value="25.3.1" />

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:debuggable="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <activity
            android:name="com.domain.appname.view.MainActivity"
            android:noHistory="true" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name="com.domain.appname.view.TabbedActivity"
            android:configChanges="keyboardHidden|orientation|screenSize"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:noHistory="true"
            android:screenOrientation="landscape"
            android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar" >
        </activity>

        <uses-sdk
            android:minSdkVersion="21"
            android:targetSdkVersion="25" />
    </application>

</manifest>

Later edit

I've went back to Android Studio 2.3, and set the gradle plugin back to 2.3.2, and here's how the automatically generated AndroidManifest.xml looks like now:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.domain.appname.test" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="21"
        android:targetSdkVersion="26" />

    <instrumentation
        android:name="android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
        android:functionalTest="false"
        android:handleProfiling="false"
        android:label="Tests for com.domain.appname"
        android:targetPackage="com.domain.appname" />

    <application>
        <uses-library android:name="android.test.runner" />
    </application>

</manifest>

Now everything works as usual, however, note the difference between the automatically generated Manifest file under gradle 3.0.0 and the one under gradle 2.3.2

I guess I'll have to wait until someone finds a solution to make this work under gradle 3.0.0 and in the meantime use the gradle plugin 2.3.2 in Android Studio 3.0 (which I'm doing right now and it works).

So the issue is with the new gradle 3.0.0-alpha9

now if you could tell us which line is 49 it would be perfect — Philipp Sander, Aug 07 '17 at 12:52
That's the "uses-sdk" statement at the end of the second "screenshot". But that's pretty much irrelevant, since the beginning of the file, the part with "xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"" is underlined with red and pretty much every other element in this particular automatically-generated Manifest file, since it can't load the URI, saying "URI is not registered" (remember, the "real" AndroidManifest file works perfectly fine). — Robert Ruxandrescu, Aug 07 '17 at 12:56
Well, that namespace isn't loaded, and it's underlined in red. That's actually the problem, not line 49, in my opinion. Also, if you look at the 2nd "screenshot" of the faulty automatically-generated Manifest file, there are TWO `` statements - the first works no problem, the 2nd doesn't. I have no idea how these are created automatically. — Robert Ruxandrescu, Aug 07 '17 at 13:07
can you go back to 2.9 and compare the 2 files? you might find the issue there. — Philipp Sander, Aug 07 '17 at 13:32
try to delete the intermediates or all the build folder and rebuild your application — Oussema Aroua, Aug 07 '17 at 13:35
I deleted the entire build folder, and used tools-build project to built it again, bumps into the same issue. There has to be some simple explanation for this thing, as always. — Robert Ruxandrescu, Aug 08 '17 at 08:36
Today I faced same issue on Android Studio and gradle plugin v. 3.0. Going back to 2.3.3 helped. — Goltsev Eugene, Oct 26 '17 at 14:20

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 10 '17 at 22:56

8

You probably have a dependency library (aar) that has a <uses-sdk> inside the application tag in the manifest. So when that gets merged, your app will have the incorrect usage also.

This happened to me with an old local build of vlc for Android.

answered Oct 10 '17 at 22:56

aaronvargas

12,189
3
52
52

I actually do have an aar library in my project. Interesting. I'm at home now and I can't check it out, but it's very likely that you are right. – Robert Ruxandrescu Oct 14 '17 at 22:32

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 17 '17 at 08:54

I had a category element in my Manifest file inside a regular activity which was causing build failure. removing it after updating to as3-rc1 and build tool 26+ my issue was resolved. Hope this helps someone.

    <activity
        android:name=".AboutUsActivity"
        android:label="@string/title_activity_about_us"
        android:parentActivityName=".MainActivity"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar">
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />

        <meta-data
            android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
            android:value="com.example.MainActivity" />
    </activity>

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 26 '17 at 15:03

1

if problem remains, please check this official tutorial on migrate to Gragle plugin v. 3.0.0.

Got the same error, in my case there was typo in meta_data instead of meta-data in the Manifest file preventing a build.

answered Oct 26 '17 at 15:03

Goltsev Eugene

3,325
6
25
48

Issue with AndroidManifest.xml in Android Studio 3.0

3 Answers3