Gradle Dependency Locking

Overview

Gradle dependency locking is a feature that ensures the version of project dependencies are fixed and cannot be changed by the Gradle dependency resolution process. This mechanism aims to increase the reliability and consistency of the build process by preventing unexpected changes in dependencies.

The application of Gradle dependency locking not only enforces the consistency of the build process but also provides a way to manage dependencies in a more controlled manner.

More details about this feature can be found in the official Gradle Dependency Locking documentation.

Unlocking Dependencies

In certain scenarios, such as when a specific dependency needs to be updated, dependencies can be unlocked. To unlock the dependencies, a provided shell script ./scripts/unlock_gradle_dependencies.sh can be used.

Once a dependency is updated, the changes will be reflected in the git diff. This way, it is easy to track what has changed during the update.

Known Issues

Please note that the generation of a settings-gradle.lockfile appears to be a bug. More information on this issue can be found here: Gradle Issue #21101.

Strict mode

Dependency locking strict mode doesn't work well with the automatic dependency version update plugin. The dependency version plugin can only check for newer versions of the dependencies if the dependency version is not locked. Therefore all lock files need to be removed, but if strict mode is enabled building without a present lockfile will fail.