When using R8 on Android, do I need to uninstall my existing Proguard?

Question

Do I need to remove Proguard related code from Gradle when using R8?

minifyEnabled true
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'

Answer 1

You don't actually remove the proguard rules, as R8 works with Proguard rules in compat mode. For more details, please refer to https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2018/11/r8-new-code-shrinker-from-google-is.html.

R8 is available with Android Studio 3.3 beta and works with Proguard rules. To try it, set the following in your project's gradle.properties file:

android.enableR8=true

But for the full mode, it is not directly compatible with Proguard.

---

Edit #1

Check here for how to migrate Proguard to R8: Android/java: Transition / Migration from ProGuard to R8?