Gradle

What is it?

Gradle is a build automation tool

  • It makes as few assumptions as possible with your project, and thus it is built to be flexible enough to support almost any type of software.

Gradle only re-runs jobs when inputs/outputs have changed.

  • therefore, caches are utilized

Gradle runs on the JVM

  • an implication here is that build logic can use the standard Java APIs.

At first, we have only a build.gradle file. When we run gradle wrapper, some files are generated for us:

  • gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
  • gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
  • gradlew
  • gradlew.bat

Build Lifecycle

Gradle evaluates and executes build scripts in three build phases of the Build Lifecycle:

Initialization

Sets up the environment for the build and determine which projects will take part in it.

Configuration

Constructs and configures the task graph for the build. Determines which tasks need to run and in which order, based on the task the user wants to run.

Execution

Runs the tasks selected at the end of the configuration phase.

Terminology

Projects

Projects are the things that Gradle builds.

Projects contain a build script (build.gradle)

  • Builds scripts define tasks, dependencies, plugins, and other configuration for that project.
  • A single build can contain one or more projects and each project can contain their own subprojects.

Tasks

Tasks contain the logic for executing some work—​compiling code, running tests or deploying software.

Most often, we'll use existing tasks.

  • ex. built-in Java Test task, which runs tests.

Tasks themselves consist of:

  • Actions: pieces of work that do something, like copy files or compile source
  • Inputs: values, files and directories that the actions use or operate on
  • Outputs: files and directories that the actions modify or generate

Plugins

Plugins allow you to introduce new concepts into a build beyond tasks, files and dependency configurations

  • ex. most language plugins add the concept of source sets to a build.

Plugins provide a means of reusing logic and configuration across multiple projects.

Build

shadowJar

ShadowJar is a plugin for the Gradle build system that provides a convenient way to create "fat" or "uber" JAR files

  • A fat JAR file is a self-contained archive that includes not only your application's compiled classes but also all its dependencies. It allows you to package your application into a single JAR file that can be easily distributed and executed, without requiring users to manage separate JAR files for dependencies.

Children
  1. Build

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