Duplicate class exception with protobuf

[V-Abhilash-1999]

[REQUIRED] Step 2: Describe your environment

Android Studio version: Electric Eel | 2022.1.1 Patch 1
Firebase Component: Firestore
Component version: 24.2.1 (BoM: 30.3.0)

[REQUIRED] Step 3: Describe the problem

I am using firebase with the following dependencies

implementation (platform('com.google.firebase:firebase-bom:30.3.0'))
implementation ('com.google.firebase:firebase-analytics-ktx')
implementation ('com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging-ktx')
implementation ('com.google.firebase:firebase-firestore-ktx')
implementation ('com.google.firebase:firebase-perf-ktx')

I have created a SDK which uses protobuf java. Since the firebase uses protobuf java lite. It results in duplicate class exception.

I cannot exclude protobuf from my SDK dependency because that would cause a java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Failed resolution of: Lcom/google/protobuf/GeneratedMessageV3; exception.

If I exclude protobuf from firebase. It still shows duplicate class exception because it has a nested dependency.
com.google.firebase:protolite-well-known-types:18.0.0@aar

They have created a package with com.google.protobuf inside this module.

I cannot exclude this dependency, because it would result in same NoClassDefFoundError.

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[argzdev]

Hi @V-Abhilash-1999, thanks for reaching out to us. I noticed that you're using an older version of the SDK. I don't think this would make any difference but could you try updating to the latest version of Firestore version 24.5.0 (BoM: 31.5.0) and see if this resolves the issue? We usually advise this to avoid issues or fixes that have been made in the most recent versions.

May I know which specific library of protobuf java and version are you using? Also any chance you could share with us a minimal reproducible example of your issue? It'll help us a lot. Thanks!

[wu-hui]

Is it at all possible for you to depend on protobuf-lite?

[V-Abhilash-1999]

I am sorry. I was a bit busy.
I could depend on protobuf-javalite, but that would remove JSON support (JSON to proto conversion).
So I was looking for a way to keep using protobuf-java.

Also on an unrelated note,

I tried to convert my library to protobuf-javalite, while testing I came across a issue, where my library uses protobuf-javalite and Application uses protobuf-java. In this case, If I were to exclude protobuf-javalite, it results in java.lang.VerifyError: Verifier rejected class on google.protobuf.FloatValue.

Upon further investigating, i came across this issue
#2165

Is migrating to protobuf-javalite the only solution for this?

[wu-hui]

It seems like you are depending on protobuf-java directly. In this case, what you could do is to pulling protobuf-java and rename its package. Not ideal, but if you really want to keep the protobuf to json feature, this is the only way I am aware of.

[V-Abhilash-1999]

Why is there a verify error when excluding protobuf-javalite in firebase? I am also facing a similar issue (if I am using FloatValue in my proto). How to avoid it?

[HlebMaliborski]

Hi! Any update on this?