support-v4 dependency fetches alpha version

[fredgalvao]

Expected Behaviour

Plugin to coexist with other plugins that depend on any android-support module and not fetch unstable versions of said dependencies.

Actual Behaviour

jeduan's facebook4 plugin is broken as we speak for anyone also using this or any other plugin that uses too-loose dependency requirements like compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:+'. Furthermore, risking using an unstable and unreleased version of a library is an anti-feature.
Specing at least a major version is recommended.

Reproduce Scenario (including but not limited to)

Steps to Reproduce

jeduan/cordova-plugin-facebook4#507 provides them (just installing both plugins should sufice).

Platform and Version (eg. Android 5.0 or iOS 9.2.1)

Not applicable

(Android) What device vendor (e.g. Samsung, HTC, Sony...)

Not applicable

Cordova CLI version and cordova platform version

Not applicable

Plugin version

Since 5.0.0, it seems:

• 25e00cd
• fb0a4f8

Sample Code that illustrates the problem

Not applicable

Logs taken while reproducing problem

Manifest merger failed : Attribute meta-data#android.support.VERSION@value value=(25.3.1) from [com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.3.1] AndroidManifest.xml:27:9-31
is also present at [com.android.support:support-v4:26.0.0-alpha1] AndroidManifest.xml:27:9-38 value=(26.0.0-alpha1).
Suggestion: add 'tools:replace="android:value"' to element at AndroidManifest.xml:25:5-27:34 to override.

[fredgalvao]

To be fair, I do think this is something either gradle or the android are to blame. Their repository should handle it not leaking an alpha version into dependency management unless specified explicitly.

[Ross-Rawlins]

+1

[pom421]

Same bug here.
The latest version of barcode-scanner (6.0.6) and diagnostic (3.6.5) are become incompatible.

$ cordova build android

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':processDebugManifest'.
> Manifest merger failed : Attribute meta-data#android.support.VERSION@value value=(25.3.1) from [com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.3.1] AndroidManifest.xml:27:9-31
  	is also present at [com.android.support:support-v4:26.0.0-alpha1] AndroidManifest.xml:27:9-38 value=(26.0.0-alpha1).
  	Suggestion: add 'tools:replace="android:value"' to <meta-data> element at AndroidManifest.xml:25:5-27:34 to override.

I had to to downgrade diagnostic plugin to make it work which is not satisfactory.

[lumitor2]

Solved this build issue for me. You can give it a try.

Put it to the bottom of platforms/android/build.gradle
configurations.all { resolutionStrategy.eachDependency { DependencyResolveDetails details -> if (details.requested.group == 'com.android.support') { //prefer different version which contains some necessary fixes details.useVersion '25.3.1' } } }

[fredgalvao]

@macdonst This is the same base issue as the conflict between push and googleplus.

[macdonst]

@fredgalvao yeah, I spent the afternoon on this with the push plugin and could not get the magic incantation. I need to pull in some more folks on this.

[fredgalvao]

@macdonst You mean you're trying to see why gradle is picking alpha versions?

For the issue at hand, I don't see why not just change from:
compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:+'
to
compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:25+'.

Bold open versioning is always dangerous, even if gradle wasn't spitting alpha versions we could get a major bump with breakages.

[macdonst]

@fredgalvao in general I'm trying to get plugins that specify + to co-exist with 25+. For the plugins under our control it's easy to pin versions but I want things to work with third parties as well.

[tavojavi]

+1

For people just looking to have a succesful build while solving in a clever way, I made it by making a change in:
cordova\plugins\phonegap-plugin-barcodescanner\src\android\barcodescanner.gradle
as fredgalvao, it was not too obvious to me where to do the change.

[dpa99c]

@macdonst I've been encountering the same problem with 3rd party plugins - making local changes within plugins/ does not work well in a CI environment.

However, I think I've found a solution based on this SO answer which uses an extra bit of Gradle config to override any existing versions specified.
I've tried it out in a couple of test cases and it seems to work so I've created a plugin which wraps it up and makes it easy to install: cordova-android-support-gradle-release.
It seems to do the job in my problematic projects and in the test cases I've created, so give it a go and see if it works for you.

[chr4ss1]

dpa99c, that did the trick for me, thanks.

[FlossyWeb]

@dpa99c You saved my day bro ! Thanks a lot...

[danishin]

@dpa99c Thank you, you saved my night :) Perhaps you should put a link to that repo in dpa99c/cordova-diagnostic-plugin?

EDIT: I see you already did :] https://github.com/dpa99c/cordova-diagnostic-plugin#gradle-version-collisions

[danilopolani]

Any update about this? Without an external plugin or overriding build.gradle?

[fredgalvao]

I'd also like plugin authors in general to use a direct/explicit approach to this issue, instead of us having to rely on a plugin to solve conflicts on specific packages. There aren't that many possible scenarios, and so I think it's worth the little effort for us to keep things stable (by simply not including alpha versions, at the very least).

[rodrigocnovos]

thanks @dpa99c, you save my project!

[iwan-uschka]

Thanks @dpa99c, but one more question:

I also use cordova-plugin-facebook4@1.9.1 and phonegap-plugin-barcodescanner@6.0.8 in my project. Til yesterday everything worked fine. Today i got the error described at jeduan/cordova-plugin-facebook4#507.

To fix this, i installed the plugins cordova-android-play-services-gradle-release and cordova-android-support-gradle-release.

But i get an error:

Execution failed for task ':transformClassesWithDexForDebug'.

I think it's because i don't include cordova-plugin-facebook4@1.9.1 and phonegap-plugin-barcodescanner@6.0.8 within the package.json but in the config.xml to define some attributes:

  <plugin name="cordova-plugin-facebook4" spec="cordova_plugins/cordova-plugin-facebook4">
    <variable name="APP_ID" value="XYZ"/>
    <variable name="APP_NAME" value="XYZ"/>
  </plugin>
  <plugin name="cordova-plugin-camera" spec="cordova_plugins/cordova-plugin-camera">
    <variable name="CAMERA_USAGE_DESCRIPTION" value="This app requires camera access to function properly."/>
    <variable name="PHOTOLIBRARY_USAGE_DESCRIPTION" value="This app requires photo library access to function properly."/>
  </plugin>
  <plugin name="phonegap-plugin-barcodescanner" spec="cordova_plugins/phonegap-plugin-barcodescanner">
    <variable name="CAMERA_USAGE_DESCRIPTION" value="This app requires camera access to function properly."/>
  </plugin>

If i include cordova-plugin-facebook4@1.9.1 and phonegap-plugin-barcodescanner@6.0.8 via package.json everything works fine without any error.

Does anybody have an idea what to do in this case? You can't use the facebook plugin without ID and name of your app.

[syns2191]

@dpa99c

thanks,, you save my day

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