Android Studio 3.0 Manifest Error: unknown element found

Question

NOTICE: Please do not post this "android.enableAapt2=false" as an answer. It is not a solution. It is just ignoring the real error which is not causing any problem on runtime.

Solution was simple, just removed mistakenly placed action tag outside of an intent filter in the manifest file.

Have an application which was building by Android Studio 2.3 fine. After updating Android Studio 3.0 Stable, started to having this error and unable to build my project.

Here my manifest.xml

<application
    android:name=".ApplicationClass"
    android:allowBackup="true"
    android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:largeHeap="true"
    android:supportsRtl="true"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

    <!--other unrelated stuff-->

    <action android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.intent.REGISTRATION" />

    <receiver
        android:name="com.google.android.gms.gcm.GcmReceiver"
        android:exported="true"
        android:permission="com.google.android.c2dm.permission.SEND">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.intent.RECEIVE" />
            <category android:name="com.xxx.xxx" />
        </intent-filter>
    </receiver>
</application>

Error shows this line:

<action android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.intent.REGISTRATION" />

If I comment/remove this action tag line, the project builds fine but it is necessary for GCM and I cannot remove it.

As you see the logs, The error not occurs at main manifest file, occurs at /build/intermediates/manifests/full/debug/AndroidManifest.xml

Tried cleaning, rebuilding, disabling instant run. Is there any solution?

The Error Logs:

/THE_PROJECT_PATH/app/build/intermediates/manifests/full/debug/AndroidManifest.xml
Error:(99) error: unknown element <action> found.
Error:(99) unknown element <action> found.
Error:java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: com.android.tools.aapt2.Aapt2Exception: AAPT2 error: check logs for details
Error:java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: com.android.tools.aapt2.Aapt2Exception: AAPT2 error: check logs for details
Error:com.android.tools.aapt2.Aapt2Exception: AAPT2 error: check logs for details
Error:Execution failed for task ':app:processDebugResources'.
> Failed to execute aapt
Information:BUILD FAILED in 1s
Information:6 errors
Information:0 warnings
Information:See complete output in console

@MikeM. It is an old project and these codes remained from old guidelines. It was working without any error. After deep research, figured it out that there is no need to use it anymore, and also it placed wrong, so removed it. — Oğuzhan Döngül, Oct 26 '17 at 08:00
Do you upgrade your distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-4.1-all.zip ? — Imene Noomene, Oct 26 '17 at 08:12
@ImenNmn Already did, the problem seems solved for now, after removing action tag. — Oğuzhan Döngül, Oct 26 '17 at 08:19

score 40 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

You have a misplaced tag. The new AAPT (AAPT2) now throws an error on this.

From the docs in here: https://developer.android.com/studio/build/gradle-plugin-3-0-0-migration.html

Behavior changes when using AAPT2

To improve incremental resource processing, Android plugin 3.0.0 enables AAPT2 by default. Although AAPT2 should immediately work with older projects, this section describes some behavior changes that you should be aware of.

Element hierarchies in the Android manifest

In previous versions of AAPT, elements nested in incorrect nodes in the Android manifest are either ignored or result in a warning. For example, consider the following sample:
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   package="com.example.myname.myapplication">
   <application
       ...
       <activity android:name=".MainActivity">
           <intent-filter>
               <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
               <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
           </intent-filter>
           <action android:name="android.intent.action.CUSTOM" />
       </activity>
   </application>
</manifest>
Previous versions of AAPT would simply ignore the misplaced tag. However, with AAPT2, you get the following error:
AndroidManifest.xml:15: error: unknown element <action> found.
To resolve the issue, make sure your manifest elements are nested correctly. For more information, read Manifest file structure.

thank you! never realized that I forgot the intent filter around my action. But the error message could be a little bit better, perhaps filled with some information from the documentation. — Ben, Nov 15 '17 at 22:24
For this case, you should change your GCM set up : https://developers.google.com/cloud-messaging/android/client or using Firebase — quangkid, Feb 05 '18 at 03:40

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 30 '17 at 09:06

16

add this code in gradle.properties in the root project:

android.enableAapt2=false

this worked for me

root 
| 
|--gradle.properties

answered Oct 30 '17 at 09:06

djsreeraj

639
5
14

5

This only makes the existing mistake invisible, not an actual solution. Aapt2 is actually useful and I do not want to disable it. – Oğuzhan Döngül Oct 30 '17 at 09:39
1

Is there any way to update the gradle version without actually disabling the Aapt2 ? – Pradeep Singh Nov 02 '17 at 09:40
Android studio says: `The option 'android.enableAapt2' is deprecated and should not be used anymore. Use 'android.enableAapt2=true' to remove this warning. It will be removed at the end of 2018..` – zeroDivider Dec 27 '18 at 10:42

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 01 '18 at 12:20

3

Put action content in intent-filter like below as per Manifest file structure.

<intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.intent.REGISTRATION" />
 </intent-filter>

answered Jun 01 '18 at 12:20

Tushar Lathiya

940
9
26

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 22 '17 at 19:10

In order to summarize and simplify: you should just concentrate on your main AndroidManifest.xml file and check whether it strictly follows the sequence as well as nesting of XML tags as described in https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/manifest-intro.html. Otherwise the IDE will open up the debug-level AndroidManifest.xml showing a lot of error every time you try to clean/build the project and make you confused!

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 05 '18 at 10:14

0

Just rename your manifest file like this: AndroidManifest.xmlold, then create a new XML file and give name: AndoridManifest.xml. Then just copy the content of the old file after you remove line with tag . Build>Clean Project and then Run>debug app again. Then the problem will be disappeared.

answered Apr 05 '18 at 10:14

Davidy Silalahi

11
3

It is not a solution. Without solving the real problem, It will not work. This is the valid answer, https://stackoverflow.com/a/46948576/3669559 – Oğuzhan Döngül Apr 05 '18 at 10:22
But it works for me. I have the same problem before. – Davidy Silalahi Apr 05 '18 at 10:26
There was an obvious mistake on my manifest file. I fixed it and it is solved. There is no need to rename or copy manifest file. – Oğuzhan Döngül Apr 05 '18 at 10:33

Pradeep Sheoran · Answer 6 · 2018-05-30T14:58:30.143

0

We have the solution of this problem and solution is that service always comes under child form of <Application <service>> when we write the code outside of <Application> then issue occur. Services are the child part of Application in Manifest... okay... It will sure work..do it

edited May 30 '18 at 14:58

answered May 30 '18 at 12:49

Pradeep Sheoran

493
6
15

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 19 '18 at 23:04

0

In my app in AndroidManifest.xml tag receiver was under the application tag and this was cause of build fail with message .../android/app/build/intermediates/manifests/full/debug/AndroidManifest.xml:25: AAPT: error: unknown element <receiver> found. After i have put it in application tag then the project has been compiled successfully. That's all

answered Jun 19 '18 at 23:04

Dmitriy Grachev

359
2
4

2

The question was regarding a tag, which does not seem related to the answer you provided a tag. The author resolved the issue by removing the tag. – brianfeucht Jun 19 '18 at 23:28

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 04 '18 at 18:03

0

I recently had this fix on my gradle.properties but a warning saying that "The option 'android.enableAapt2' is deprecated..." kept on coming and the solution was to change it to true instead.

answered Jul 04 '18 at 18:03

Edson Zandamela

1

Android Studio 3.0 Manifest Error: unknown element found

8 Answers8

Behavior changes when using AAPT2

Element hierarchies in the Android manifest

Linked

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