How to replace the deprecated plugin function with the apply function in Gradle

Question

The Android Studio's Empty Activity default configuration calls the plugin function in two places:

in the FirstEmpty/build.gradle.kts script:

import org.gradle.kotlin.dsl.support.compileKotlinScriptModuleTo

// Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.
plugins {
    alias(libs.plugins.androidApplication) apply false
    alias(libs.plugins.jetbrainsKotlinAndroid) apply false
}

and in the FirstEmpty/app/build.gradle.kts script:

plugins {
    alias(libs.plugins.androidApplication)
    alias(libs.plugins.jetbrainsKotlinAndroid)
}

plugins is defined in KotlinBuildScript, which will be deprecated:

Deprecated

Will be removed in Gradle 9.0

plugin is supposed to be replaced by apply:

If you need to apply a plugin imperatively, please use apply() or apply(plugin = "id") instead.
project(":core") {
    apply(plugin = "java")
}

The above quote and the following statement make me believe that the plugins call can be replaced with an apply call with no repercussions on the rest of the script:

The plugins {} block serves a similar purpose to the apply method that can be used to apply a plugin directly to a Project object or similar. A key difference is that plugins applied via the plugins {} block are conceptually applied to the script, and by extension the script target. At this time there is no observable practical difference between the two approaches with regard to the end result.

Please show me how to do it in this particular case.

Simon Jacobs · Accepted Answer · 2025-03-03 10:09:25Z

0

No changes are needed to your build: that is a best practice project layout.

plugins in those instances is not defined in KotlinBuildScript anymore but in KotlinProjectScriptTemplate.

The plugins block from there is very much in use and is recommended in preference to using the apply method. The apply method does not add the plugin to your build classpath and does not give the script access to Kotlin DSL accessors.

edited Mar 3 at 10:09

answered Mar 1 at 19:56

Simon Jacobs

7,0302 gold badges14 silver badges21 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

8 Comments

doru001 Mar 2 at 4:30

I don't get the message in Android Studio, the message is on the official Gradle documentation site. Android Studio is running fine on Gradle 8. Maybe when Gradle is updated, Android Studio Gradle scripts will also be updated and I should not bother.

Simon Jacobs Mar 2 at 4:57

That makes no sense to me. How do you get an error message on a documentation site?

doru001 Mar 3 at 3:53

I don't get an error message. The quoted text is from the Gradle documentation.

Simon Jacobs Mar 3 at 10:10

Ah, I see. You are just looking at the documentation for an old class representing the build script. I've updated the answer.

doru001 Mar 4 at 5:04

When I hover the mouse over plugins in FirstEmpty/build.gradle.kts in Android Studio, the infotip says: org.gradle.kotlin.dsl.KotlinBuildScript. How do you know that KotlinProjectScriptTemplate.plugins is called there instead of KotlinBuildScript.plugins?

|

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to replace the deprecated plugin function with the apply function in Gradle

1 Answer 1

8 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

8 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related