Add documentation on the AndroidX migration (#2349)

Author: Michael Klimushyn

src/docs/development/packages-and-plugins/androidx-compatibility.md

@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+---
+title: AndroidX compatibility
+---
+
+{{site.alert.note}}
+  You may be directed to this page if the framework detects a problem in your
+  Flutter app involving AndroidX incompatibilities.
+{{site.alert.end}}
+
+Android code commonly uses [support
+libraries](https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/support-library/) to
+stay backwards compatible. There's two conflicting sets of support libraries
+technically available today, but the
+original libraries are deprecated and no longer supported.
+[AndroidX](https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx/) is the only current
+version of the support libraries. It has feature parity with the originals and
+some additional capabilities.
+
+The original support libraries and AndroidX are unfortunately completely
+incompatible with each other. Gradle will crash when trying to build APKs that
+use both sets of libraries.
+
+Some Flutter plugins have been migrated to AndroidX after originally using the
+original suport libraries. Flutter apps that aren't compatible with AndroidX
+will fail to compile when using the latest version of these plugins.
+
+# Fixing AndroidX crashes in a Flutter app
+
+There's two main ways AndroidX can break a Flutter app at compile time.
+
+1. The app is using an AndroidX plugin and its main `gradle.build` file has a
+   `compileSdk` below 28.
+2. The app is using both deprecated support and AndroidX code at the same time.
+
+The error messages from Gradle vary. Occasionally the messages will mention
+"package androidx" or "package android.support" directly. However often the
+Gradle error messages aren't obviously related, and will instead talk about
+"AAPT," "AAPT2," or otherwise mention failing at "parsing resources."
+
+Both of these problems need to be fixed by either manually migrating the code or
+downgrading to versions of the plugins that are still using the original support
+libraries.
+
+## How to migrate a Flutter app to AndroidX
+
+{{site.alert.note}}
+  It's impossible to fully migrate your app to AndroidX if it's actively using
+  some plugins that are still on the previous old support library. If your app
+  depends on plugins that are using the old `android.support` packages, you'll
+  need to [avoid AndroidX](#avoiding-androidx) instead.
+{{site.alert.note}}
+
+First make sure that `compileSdkVersion` is at least `28` in `app/build.gradle`.
+This property controls the version of the Android SDK that Gradle uses to build
+your APK. It doesn't affect the minimum SDK version that your app can run on.
+[More info here.](https://developer.android.com/studio/build/#module-level)
+
+### Recommended: Use Android Studio to migrate your app
+
+This requires the latest version of Android Studio.
+
+1. Follow the instructions on [this
+   page](https://flutter.io/docs/development/tools/android-studio#android-ide)
+   for importing a Flutter app into Android Studio so that the IDE can parse the
+   Android code.
+2. Follow the instructions on [this
+   page](https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx/migrate) for migrating
+   an app to AndroidX automatically using Android Studio.
+
+### Not recommended: Manually migrate your app
+
+See [this page](https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx/migrate) for
+detailed instructions on how to do this.
+
+## Avoiding AndroidX
+
+If you want or need to avoid migrating to AndroidX, you'll need to go through
+and pin your plugin dependencies in your `pubspec.yaml` to the last major
+version from before they were migrated.
+
+These are the last available versions of all the `flutter/plugins` packages that
+are pre AndroidX:
+
+- `android_alarm_manager`: 0.2.3
+- `android_intent`: 0.2.1
+- `battery`: 0.3.0
+- `camera`: 0.2.9+1
+- `cloud_firestore`: 0.8.2+3
+- `cloud_functions`: 0.0.5
+- `connectivity`: 0.3.2
+- `device_info`: 0.3.0
+- `firebase_admob`: 0.7.0
+- `firebase_analytics`: 1.1.0
+- `firebase_auth`: 0.7.0
+- `firebase_auth`: 0.7.0
+- `firebase_core`: 0.2.5+1
+- `firebase_database`: 1.0.5
+- `firebase_dynamic_links`: 0.1.1
+- `firebase_messaging`: 2.1.0
+- `firebase_ml_vision`: 0.2.1
+- `firebase_performance`: 0.0.8+1
+- `firebase_remote_config`: 0.0.6+1
+- `firebase_storage`: 1.0.4
+- `google_maps_flutter`: 0.1.0
+- `google_sign_in`: 3.2.4
+- `image_picker`: 0.4.12+1
+- `local_auth`: 0.3.1
+- `package_info`: 0.3.2+1
+- `path_provider`: 0.4.1
+- `quick_actions`: 0.2.2
+- `sensors`: 0.3.5
+- `share`: 0.5.3
+- `shared_preferences`: 0.4.3
+- `url_launcher`: 4.1.0+1
+- `video_player`: 0.9.0
+- `webview_flutter`: 0.2.0
+
+Note however that this list is not an exhaustive list of all the Flutter plugins
+that use AndroidX, and the AndroidX dependency in your app may be coming from
+another plugin besides these.
+
+# For plugin maintainers: Migrating a Flutter plugin to AndroidX
+
+Migrating a Flutter plugin to AndroidX follows basically the same process as
+[migrating a Flutter app](#How-to-migrate-a-Flutter-app-to-AndroidX), but with
+some additional concerns and some slight changes.
+
+1. Make sure you increment the [major
+   version](https://www.dartlang.org/tools/pub/versioning#semantic-versions) of
+   your plugin for this change and clearly document it in your plugin's
+   changelog. This is a breaking change that requires manual migration from
+   users to fix. Pub treats different digits differently depending on if a
+   plugin is pre or post 1.0.0. The very first digit is the major version for
+   plugins that are at or above 1.0.0. For plugins that are below it, the middle
+   digit is considered to the major version.
+2. Plugin code can be automatically migrated with Android Studio the same way
+   that Flutter app code can be. Import the `plugin_root/example` app into the
+   IDE as if it's a regular Flutter app. Android Studio will also import and
+   parse the plugin's Android code.