Android debugging with minifyEnabled true

Question

I am investigating an issue that is only present with minifyEnabled is set to true in Gradle.

I am using log statements to debug but the issue is apparently pretty deep. Is there anything I can do to have minifyEnabled set to true, but still be able to use the Android Studio debugger?

I know the answer is probably 'no', but I wanted to ask anyway.

In short: is it possible to run the Android Studio debugger with minifyEnabled set to true?

Answer 1

It is already possible to debug minified applications. First, edit your proguard-rules.pro and add lines:

-dontobfuscate
-keepattributes SourceFile,LineNumberTable

Also, make sure to comment out this line:

# -renamesourcefileattribute SourceFile

Then, edit your application build.gradle file and define your debug build type in the following way:

debug {
    minifyEnabled true
    useProguard false
    proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
}

All of these changes are necessary(if you skip keepattributes and renamesourcefileattribute, then debugging will work, but logging will still point to wrong place in the code)

Then, run the application with debugger.

The logging will now point you exactly to the proper place in the code. Also, if there are any breakpoints set, these will be executed properly. Android Studio will allow you to investigate variables, check for conditions and evaluate the code.

Remember to remove the changes in the proguard-rules.pro file before you build the release. You can also define debug and release settings in separate proguard files.

Answer 2

No ..but you should avoid using it on debug build. it will slow down your application .it is usefull when you release the APK for testing purposes but before that, Make you aware of using MinifyEnabled. follow this link. it is used for enable the code shrinking.(Unused codes will be shrinked).

See official documentation.