App Distribution Plugin configuration does not respect build types

[safu9]

[REQUIRED] Step 2: Describe your environment

• Android Studio version: Hedgehog 2023.1.1 Patch 2
• Firebase Component: App Distribution Gradle Plugin
• Component version: 4.0.1
• Android Gradle Plugin version: 8.2.2
• Gradle version: 8.2

[REQUIRED] Step 3: Describe the problem

Steps to reproduce:

My application uses different projects and service credential files for each build type, like this

// build.gradle.kts
buildTypes {
    getByName("release") {
        // ...
        firebaseAppDistribution {
            artifactType = "APK"
            groups = "testers"
            serviceCredentialsFile = "$rootDir/secrets/app-distribution-release-key.json"
        }
    }
    getByName("debug") {
        // ...
        firebaseAppDistribution {
            artifactType = "APK"
            groups = "testers"
            serviceCredentialsFile = "$rootDir/secrets/app-distribution-debug-key.json"
        }
    }
}

When I try to distribute with the relase config, the app distribution plugin uses the dubeg credential instead of the release one.

$ ./gradlew assembleRelease appDistributionUploadRelease

> Task :app:appDistributionUploadRelease
Using APK path in the outputs directory: ...\app\build\outputs\apk\release\app-release.apk.
Uploading APK to Firebase App Distribution...
Using service credentials file specified by the serviceCredentialsFile property in your app's build.gradle file: ...\secrets\app-distribution-debug-key.json
Uploading the APK.

> Task :app:appDistributionUploadRelease FAILED

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':app:appDistributionUploadRelease'.
> App Distribution halted because it had a problem uploading the APK: [403] The caller does not have permission

After I found this #5651 (comment) , I tried both adding import com.google.firebase.appdistribution.gradle.firebaseAppDistribution and using configure<com.google.firebase.appdistribution.gradle.AppDistributionExtension> instead of firebaseAppDistribution.
The latter worked, but the former did not.

When I went to the declaration of firebaseAppDistribution, Android Studio showed me that the extension function for org.gradle.api.Project in this code was used in my gradle script.

// IntelliJ API Decompiler stub source generated from a class file
// Implementation of methods is not available

package com.google.firebase.appdistribution.gradle

public fun com.android.build.api.dsl.ProductFlavor.firebaseAppDistribution(action: com.google.firebase.appdistribution.gradle.AppDistributionExtension.() -> kotlin.Unit): kotlin.Unit { /* compiled code */ }

public fun org.gradle.api.Project.firebaseAppDistribution(action: com.google.firebase.appdistribution.gradle.AppDistributionExtension.() -> kotlin.Unit): kotlin.Unit { /* compiled code */ }

public fun org.gradle.nativeplatform.BuildType.firebaseAppDistribution(action: com.google.firebase.appdistribution.gradle.AppDistributionExtension.() -> kotlin.Unit): kotlin.Unit { /* compiled code */ }

I think we need an extension function for com.android.build.api.dsl.ApplicationBuildType, which is not a subclass of org.gradle.nativeplatform.BuildType.

[lehcar09]

Hi @safu9, thank you for reaching out and reporting the issue. I tried reproducing the issue and I was able to replicate the issue in "firebaseAppdistribution" key when configured in "buildTypes". I’ll notify our engineers and see what we can do here.

[rizwan123912]

@safu9

[MaesterChestnut]

Thanks for reporting this issue; we're looking into what's causing this ignoring of application variants. Can you try replacing firebaseAppDistribution with configure<AppDistributionExtension> in both your release and debug buildTypes?

[safu9]

Yes, replacing firebaseAppDistribution with configure<AppDistributionExtension> in both buildTypes resolves this problem. Gradle uses the correct serviceCredentialsFile for each buildType when using configure<AppDistributionExtension>.

[ajithsrepo]

@MaesterChestnut @lehcar09 Using configure<AppDistributionExtension> doesn't resolve this issue when I use flavors. Uploads fail because the appDistributionUpload task will always use the last resolved json file. In my case that'd be firebase_app_distribution_key_qa.json. For example, if I run assembleTestUATRelease appDistributionUploadTestUATRelease, it'd throw a 403 Forbidden error because the task uses firebase_app_distribution_key_qa.json to upload the UAT app.

androidComponents {
    val firebaseAppDistributionConfig = mapOf(
        "TestPROD" to FirebaseConfig(
            serviceCredentialsFile = "./vault/firebase_app_distribution_key_prod.json",
            releaseNotes = "Release notes for PROD",
            groups = "dev"
        ),
        "TestUAT" to FirebaseConfig(
            serviceCredentialsFile = "./vault/firebase_app_distribution_key_uat.json",
            releaseNotes = "Release notes for UAT",
            groups = "dev"
        ),
        "TestQA" to FirebaseConfig(
            serviceCredentialsFile = "./vault/firebase_app_distribution_key_qa.json",
            releaseNotes = "Release notes for QA",
            groups = "dev"
        )
    )

    onVariants { variant ->
        val variantName = variant.flavorName
        val firebaseConfig = firebaseAppDistributionConfig[variantName]

        firebaseConfig?.let {
            configure<com.google.firebase.appdistribution.gradle.AppDistributionExtension> {
                serviceCredentialsFile = it.serviceCredentialsFile
                releaseNotes = it.releaseNotes
                groups = it.groups
            }
        }
    }
}

[romankulykov]

I encountered an issue where the Firebase App Distribution plugin wasn’t selecting the correct serviceCredentialsFile for the build type. The plugin kept using the wrong credentials file, leading to failed APK uploads.

Solution:

Using configure instead of firebaseAppDistribution {} inside the buildTypes section resolved the issue. The correct service credentials file is now selected for each build type, and the APK uploads successfully.

android {
    buildTypes {
        getByName("debug") {
            configure<AppDistributionExtension> {
                appId = "your_id"
                serviceCredentialsFile = "$rootDir/staging.json"
                groupsFile = "$rootDir/tester_groups.txt"
                releaseNotesFile = "$rootDir/releasenotes.txt"
            }
            versionNameSuffix = "-DEBUG"
            signingConfig = signingConfigs.getByName("debug")
        }
        getByName("release") {
            configure<AppDistributionExtension> {
                appId = "your_id"
                serviceCredentialsFile = "$rootDir/release.json"
                groupsFile = "$rootDir/tester_groups.txt"
                releaseNotesFile = "$rootDir/releasenotes.txt"
            }
            isMinifyEnabled = true
            signingConfig = signingConfigs.getByName("release")
        }
    }
    productFlavors {
        create("dev") {
            dimension = "environment"
            applicationIdSuffix = ".dev.staging"
        }
        create("production") {
            dimension = "environment"
        }
    }
}