In build.gradle (app) file we have this by default,
buildTypes {
release {
minifyEnabled false
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
}
}
According to https://developer.android.com/studio/build/shrink-code,
minifyEnabled true make the code more secure (making it hard to reverse engineer) and also shrink the size in release build, which we use for publishing the app.
I know that using minifyEnabled true makes compile time longer, but usually debug builds are used for development and testing, which is not affected anyways.
What I'm looking for is that, what are the disadvantages (such as performance impacts) cause by using minifyEnabled true at runtime. I'm not worried about the build time of a release build.
Google Play Console also recommending us to enable it therefore I'm wondering why is minifyEnabled is disabled by default.
By adding minifyEnabled true in your release build you can obfuscate code but it is set to false by default in release builds because if set true it shall require proguard rules to be written to tell the compiler which classes are to be ignored while obfuscating the code. If minifyEnabled is set to true by default and the developer forgets to add proguard rules, it can lead to runtime crashes.
However, setting minifyEnabled to true and shrinkResources to true can reduce your apk size.
As NIKHIL AGGARWAL said, setting minifyEnabled to true can lead to runtime crashes.
You should research each used library so that include their ProGuard rules into your project. Also sometimes after Gradle or libraries upgrade you should again check ProGuard rules and accordingly update them in your project.
You should add data classes of your network model to ProGuard.
You should check your release build on several devices/emulators with different Android versions to understand where it can crash. Debugging in release build is difficult and with obfuscation it becomes a nightmare.
However after you set minifyEnabled = true and avoid crashes you will decrease apk size and impede to cracking attempts.
Related
I would like to publish a a library with debuggable true on release build types. This would help me debug that library. What are the potential problems if this library goes into production? Is it secure ? What difference does it make when released with debuggable as false?
buildTypes {
release {
minifyEnabled true
debuggable true
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
signingConfig signingConfigs.release
}
}
First of all, you can not publish an apk with debuggable set to true.
Google play console will give you an error just after you upload the apk.
Secondly, it is not secure at all. Your apk will be very slow.
There are differences in a debug build and a release build. Release builds are much faster. Release builds do not print logs (it is a good practice to not print logs in release builds) which makes execution slower as it takes time to print the characters in the console and all print commands are usually in sync.
Moreover, a release build may also trigger code obfuscation and splits.
when I'm trying to build the application, Both release and debug are creating huge data(in MB).[this is my gradle file. I have created a new project and nothing is been created in it but still producing 2-3 MB..]
can anyone please help me out?
This is because of the dependencies libraries especially the support libraries. If you create your application without the support libraries, your application will not weight about 1 MB. Which means you need to use Activity instead of AppCompatActivity and use ListView instead of RecyclerView and etc.
Your basic application with support libraries will be weight about > 2 MB this is the trade-off of all the features support libraries gives you.
Update:
Also delete one or more of these to save some space if you don't use them: glide,circle image view, cardview, constraint layout
end Update
This is basic support library size, maybe you are using some drawable which has some size of around 1MB.
Anyways, you can reduct apk size by shrinking resources and enabling minify.
app/build.gradle
android{
.
.
buildTypes {
debug {
shrinkResources true
minifyEnabled true
useProguard true
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
}
release {
shrinkResources true
minifyEnabled true
useProguard true
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
}
}
}
In my debug android app I made a sign in into firebase with google and facebook and it worked well, but after generating signed APK it's not working, I updated SHA1 in firebase project with release SHA and updated key hash in facebook for developers also but it still not working what can I do.
Most of the times things like this happens because of proguard, it removes some of the files when building apk. Check if it works when proguard is disabled. if it works then try to configure proguard to keep all required files.
To disable proguard set minifyEnabled false in build.gradle
after changing it will look somewhat like
buildTypes {
release {
minifyEnabled false
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
}
debug {
minifyEnabled false
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
}
}
To further configure proguard you can easily find tutorial on google.
Some helpful links:-
https://stackoverflow.com/a/26274623/5176343
https://stackoverflow.com/a/15761408/5176343
It's tough to say without seeing the code, but one thing that has worked for me in the past was turning off proguard and/or minify in build.gradle. Those things were changing property names in the release apk for me which then caused de-serialization to fail for me because the names didn't match what was in the json.
Have you selected a build version to release and than generate singed apk i hope this will work for you.
I see that the Android Plugin for Gradle has a minifyEnabled property as well as a useProguard property, as follows:
android {
buildTypes {
debug {
minifyEnabled true
useProguard false
}
release {
minifyEnabled true
useProguard true
}
}
}
What's the difference between these two properties? Or, rather, what's the meaning of each?
Quoting from tools.android.com:
Built-in shrinker
Version 2.0 of Android Plugin for Gradle ships with an experimental
built-in code shrinker, which can be used instead of ProGuard. The
built-in shrinker supports fast incremental runs and is meant to speed
up iteration cycles. It can be enabled using the following code
snippet:
android {
buildTypes {
debug {
minifyEnabled true
useProguard false
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt')
}
}
}
The built-in shrinker can only remove dead code, it does not obfuscate or optimize. It can be configured using the same files as
ProGuard, but will ignore all flags related to obfuscation or
optimization.
Unlike ProGuard, we support using the built-in shrinker together with
Instant Run: depending on the project, it may significantly decrease
the initial build and install time. Any methods that become reachable
after a code change will appear as newly added to the program and
prevent an Instant Run hotswap.
You don't need useProguard true anymore.
Code shrinking with R8 is enabled by default when you set the minifyEnabled property to true.
When you build your project using Android Gradle plugin 3.4.0 or higher, the plugin no longer uses ProGuard to perform compile-time code optimization. Instead, the plugin works with the R8 compiler to handle the tasks according to the official document.
If you want to use ProGuard instead of R8. Add this line in the gradle.properties file
android.enableR8=false
I set minifyEnabled true for my release buildType and it removed an entire enum which it thougt to be unused code i guess. This made my app crash due to a NoSuchFieldException. Took me 4 hours to find the reason for this crash. 0/10 can not recommend minifyEnabled.
Just enable minifyEnabled will have code both optimized and obfuscated.
This is because useProguard true is default so no need to set it explicitly.
See also:
Obfuscation in Android Studio
When I do not minify my app I reach the maximum method count and building the dex file fails. This can be avoided by enabling minify in build.gradle. The downside, however, is that now the code gets obfuscated. This is OK for the Release build but it is problematic for a Debug build.
Is there a way to tell gradle to minify a Debug build but not obfuscate it?
minifyEnabled true
is just a shortcut for:
postprocessing {
removeUnusedCode true
obfuscate true
optimizeCode true
}
So, if you want to minify without obfuscating, replace minifyEnabled true with:
postprocessing {
removeUnusedCode true
obfuscate false // <--
optimizeCode true
}
Additionally, the compiler will complain if you have shrinkResources true. The equivalent postprocessing field is removeUnusedResources true, i.e:
postprocessing {
removeUnusedCode true
removeUnusedResources true // <--
obfuscate false
optimizeCode true
}
Contrary to other answers, useProguard false does not disable obfuscation; it changes the obfuscation engine from ProGuard to R8.
Yes, you can use ProGuard to minify debug builds.
The key is to use -dontobfuscate option in ProGuard configuration for debug build.
Use this setting in build.gradle:
buildTypes {
release {
minifyEnabled true
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'),
'proguard-rules.pro'
}
debug {
minifyEnabled true
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'),
'proguard-rules.pro',
'proguard-rules-debug.pro'
}
}
Write your release ProGuard configuration to proguard-rules.pro.
Use the same configuration for release and debug. This way you ensure that no necessary code is stripped away. And debug minification doesn't break the build.
Add extra ProGuard config file proguard-rules-debug.pro for debug build. It should contain rules used only for debug. In this case add only:
-dontobfuscate
Tomik's answer is technically correct, but it doesn't support using Instant Run for your builds. As pointed out in the official guide on code-shrinking:
Enable code shrinking with Instant Run If code shrinking is important
to you while incrementally building your app, try the experimental
code shrinker that's built into the Android plugin for Gradle. This
shrinker supports Instant Run, unlike ProGuard.
You can configure the Android plugin shrinker using the same
configuration files as ProGuard. However, the Android plugin shrinker
does not obfuscate or optimize your code—it only removes unused code.
So you should use it for your debug builds only, and enable ProGuard
for your release builds so your release APK's code is obfuscated and
optimized.
So the proper solution would be to setup your debug build like this:
android {
buildTypes {
debug {
minifyEnabled true
useProguard false
proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'),
'proguard-rules.pro'
}
}
This way the code in your debug build doesn't get optimized nor obfuscated, but will get shrunk. This also applies when using Instant Run.
A simple solution is to add minifyEnabled true and useProguard false inside the build configuration. But code shrinking is not recommended for debug builds from official docs Be aware that code shrinking slows down the build time, so you should avoid using it on your debug build if possible.
Reference https://developer.android.com/studio/build/shrink-code.html