How to patch expo module build.gradle file for a managed expo workflow?

[aerielcruz]

Gradle 8 Migration for Custom Expo Modules
https://github.com/expo/fyi/blob/main/expo-modules-gradle8-migration.md#error-task-current-target-is-17-and-compilereleasekotlin-task-current-target-is-11-jvm-target-compatibility-should-be-set-to-the-same-java-version

It says that you have to patch the build.gradle file of the expo module but am I supposed to edit it from node_modules?

An example would be expo-splash-screen

* What went wrong:
A problem occurred evaluating project ':expo-splash-screen'.
> Could not set unknown property 'classifier' for task ':expo-splash-screen:androidSourcesJar' of type org.gradle.api.tasks.bundling.Jar.

This issue only happens for Android and not iOS.

[aerielcruz]

Fixed it! 🥳
This is what I did

1. I started to run this command to see the relation of expo-splash-screen (replace this with the expo module)

   npm why expo-splash-screen
   

2. This is the result

   [email protected]
   node_modules/expo-splash-screen
     expo-splash-screen@"~0.17.0" from [email protected]    
     node_modules/expo-app-loading
       expo-app-loading@"~2.1.1" from the root project
   

3. I checked expo-app-loading and it is a deprecated package
4. I uninstalled expo-app-loading, build again and voila problem solved! 😄

Even this solved my issue, I still want to know how to update the build.gradle file for a managed workflow.

[anhtuan219]

@aerielcruz You can use config plugin to modify the native files for a managed workflow
Here's an example that modifies file /android/app/build.gradle
If you want to modify file /android/build.gradle, use withProjectBuildGradle from @expo/config-plugins instead

[nassimerrahoui]

Is there any possibilty that we can configure a build.gradle (from app folder) file, from an app.config.ts file in futher versions of Expo ?

For example, if we want to modify stuff like :

• manifestPlaceholders
• compileOptions
• kotlinOptions
• dependencies

Seems like using config plugins for that is a little bit dirty and risky.

[anhtuan219]

@nassimerrahoui For some build configuration (e.g. minSdkVersion, targetSdkVersion, compileSdkVersion, kotlinVersion, buildToolsVersion, deploymentTarget,...) you can use expo-build-properties
But if you want more granular control, until now the most suitable solution that I can found is to use config plugins

[nassimerrahoui]

@anhtuan219 Thank you for your help. For the moment, it is more easy for me to maintain a bare workflow just on Android to add those configuration. Especially to add a native dependency for instance.