Android Gradle - is use splits only for release possible?

Question

I want use "splits" by "abi", but only for release build. Is this possible? I try use ext variable and variable by "def" also which is set to false by default. This variable is set to true in buildTypes for releaseWithLog (and release).

But I don't know how Gradle work, because when I add writeln() with test message to "debug", "releaseWithLog" and "release" and run build, all messages are in output, so this confirms me that variable "splitsEnabled" is set to true though I build for debug - and I expect value "false" for debug (and not using splits for debug therefore).

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 19
    buildToolsVersion '20.0.0'
    ext {
        splitsEnabled = false
    }
    defaultConfig {
    ...
    }
    buildTypes {
        debug {
            ...
        }
        releaseWithLog {
            ...
            splitsEnabled = true
        }
        release.initWith(releaseWithLog)
        release {
            ...
        }
    }
    ...
    splits {
        abi {
            println(splitsEnabled)
            enable splitsEnabled
            reset()
            include 'x86', 'armeabi-v7a', 'armeabi'
            exclude 'x86_64', 'mips64', 'arm64-v8a', 'mips'
            universalApk true
        }
    }
    ... 

Answer 1

You can solve this easily with a command line argument to Gradle, or the "Script parameters:" field for a Gradle task in Android Studio. I used -P to define 'dbgBld' symbol and used it for debug builds, e.g.:

gradle -PdbgBld installDebug

My build.gradle file has the following splits command:

splits {
    abi {
        enable !project.hasProperty('dbgBld')
        reset()
        include 'armeabi', 'armeabi-v7a', 'x86', 'mips'
        universalApk true
    }
}

Now to build release I use:

gradle assembleRelease

The 'dbgBld' symbol is not defined, so the splits enable field resolves to true and I get 5 APK files. When building for debugging, the -PdbgBld is already saved in my Android Studio configuration and I get only one "fat" APK for debugging, which results in much faster debug builds.

Greg