To make the migration as easy as possible, Google is making the new replacement APIs available in AGP 7.2 so developers can adapt their code in preparation for version 8.

In particular, upgrading to the latest version of a plugin/library may not be just as simple as changing its version number in a configuration file, but could also require modifications to the codebase that is using it. While a number of plugins and libraries, including the mentioned Hilt, Firebase, and Realm, have been working on adopting the new APIs, it is not unlikely that migration may cause some headache for developers.

Additionally, Transform features may be helpful to create test classes.įor developers, this change means they may need to migrate their own codebases, as well as to update any dependencies using the Transforms APIs to newer versions using the replacement APIs. While the Transform APIs is typically used in Gradle plugins, a number of libraries also exist that use them, such as mobile database Realm.

For example, the Android Hilt plugin uses the Transform APIs to embed Dagger dependency injection into an Android app and Firebase uses it for performance monitoring. The Transform APIs are a collection of APIs provided by the Android Gradle plugin to process intermediate artifacts of the build process, enabling to transform bytecode, synthesize new classes, or analyse the whole program.Ī typical use of this feature is instrumenting compiled classes to add traces, custom logging, performance analysis and so on.

Projects that use the Transform API force AGP to use a less optimized flow for the build that can result in large regressions in build times. The Transform API is being removed to improve build performance. All third-party plugins and apps relying on them are required to migrate to the new APIs. Google has announced the upcoming Android Gradle Plugin (AGP), version 8.0, reduces build times by removing the Transform APIs and replacing them through the Artifacts API and Instrumentation API.

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