[jira] [Created] (CB-14154) Expose gradle configuration properties in config.xml to assist aligning Google Play Services / Firebase

["Christopher Scott (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

Christopher Scott created CB-14154:
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             Summary: Expose gradle configuration properties in config.xml to assist aligning Google Play Services / Firebase
                 Key: CB-14154
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CB-14154
             Project: Apache Cordova
          Issue Type: Improvement
          Components: cordova-android
    Affects Versions: cordova-android-7.0.0
            Reporter: Christopher Scott
            Assignee: Joe Bowser


I am a full-time plugin developer.  Like many other plugins, I import Google Play Services dependencies in addition to Android Support libraries (appcompat-v7).

By far the biggest problem I encounter with my users is [Gradle conflicts|https://github.com/transistorsoft/cordova-background-geolocation-lt/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=android+build+error] due to multiple plugins importing different versions of {color:#333333}play-services / Firebase / com.android.support{color} libraries.

Many plugin authors do the wrong thing and simply use version ":+", eg: [cordova-plugin-firebase|https://github.com/arnesson/cordova-plugin-firebase/blob/master/plugin.xml#L61-L67]].

Quite often, my solution for these users is to [edit platforms/android/project.properties|https://github.com/transistorsoft/cordova-background-geolocation-lt/issues/699#issuecomment-396083457]*_,_* which is not the best long-term solution, since this file is _volatile_.

What I've been doing since cordova@7.1.0 is [expose custom config properties in my plugins' plugin.xml|https://github.com/transistorsoft/cordova-background-geolocation-lt/blob/master/plugin.xml#L98-L101].  This is nice, but users must align their google-play / Firebase / Support dependencies [for each plugin that exposes these|https://github.com/transistorsoft/cordova-background-geolocation-lt#configuring-play-services-version] helpful properties (and not many plugins do).

 

What would *_really_* help, is if cordova-android could expose variables in the app's config.xml in the same manner as:
 * cdvCompileSdkVersion
 * cdvBuildToolsVersion
 * cdvMinSdkVersion

I would like to see the following properties added:
 * cdvGooglePlayServicesVersion
 * cdvSupportLibVersion

(Note:  cdvGooglePlayServicesVersion could be named cdvGoogleApiVersion as a more common name, since both Firebase and Google Play Services dependencies must be aligned to the same version.)

I would like to be able to access these properties in my plugin's [plugin.xml here|https://github.com/transistorsoft/cordova-background-geolocation-lt/blob/master/plugin.xml#L99]] instead of using my plugin's custom $GOOGLE_API_VERSION variable.

In a React Native app, which provides direct control over one's top-level build.gradle, we do it [like this|https://github.com/transistorsoft/rn-background-geolocation-demo/blob/master/android/build.gradle#L33-L38]].  3rd-party plugins then check for the existence of these Gradle Config Properties when importing their Google dependencies, [like this|https://github.com/transistorsoft/react-native-background-geolocation/blob/master/android/build.gradle#L33].

 

 



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