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I am trying to refactor the way that I declare my dependencies in my project.

I am currently using the method described in this answer.

For example:

In top level build.gradle I am defining my dependency as a constant as so:

ext.libraries = [


junit: 'junit:junit:4.10'

]

Then referencing it in the sub-module build.gradle like so:

testCompile([
              libraries.junit
])

Is the only advantage of doing this that it saves memory?

My current understanding is that by defining a dependency in the typical Gradle way in the top level build.gradle, it is then added to EVERY sub-module.

But by defining it as a property and only referencing the property in the sub-modules that use it, you are saving memory as it is only added to the sub-modules that need it?

Am I correct?

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java123999
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1 Answers1

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You can't really add dependencies in the top-level gradle file.

Declaring dependencies like this is to avoid repetition. Avoiding repetition is good when you need to change something such as the version number of your dependencies: you'll need to edit only one place for that instead of all your submodule build.gradle files.

laalto
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  • Thanks for you answer. What do you mean by "You can't really add dependencies in the top-level gradle file". Is it not possible to add dependencies to all sub-projects by declaring them at the top level? Does each sub-module not have jars attached to it that it needs? – java123999 Jan 11 '16 at 11:10
  • That's correct, I think what he meant was: "you can't really add them to the top-level because they will be added to the sub-projects" – TheTool Jan 11 '16 at 15:56