Android gradle plugin update to 3.3.0 throw NullPointerException

Question

I just updated to Android Studio 3.3 and tried to update the Gradle Plugin to 3.3.0 but project build fails.

The project is a library with an app (that uses the library). Tried everything: clear, rebuild, reset, delete the .gradle directory, even restart the computer without luck. Any idea?

Here is the stack trace

org.gradle.api.ProjectConfigurationException: A problem occurred configuring project ':screenz_library'.
    |95 internal calls|
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ThreadFactoryImpl$ManagedThreadRunnable.run(ThreadFactoryImpl.java:55)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: com.android.build.gradle.internal.crash.ExternalApiUsageException: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.android.build.gradle.internal.ApiObjectFactory.create(ApiObjectFactory.java:137)
    at com.android.build.gradle.BasePlugin.createAndroidTasks(BasePlugin.java:777)
    at com.android.builder.profile.ThreadRecorder.record(ThreadRecorder.java:81)
    at com.android.build.gradle.BasePlugin.lambda$createTasks$4(BasePlugin.java:651)
    at com.android.build.gradle.internal.crash.CrashReporting$afterEvaluate$1.execute(crash_reporting.kt:37)
    at com.android.build.gradle.internal.crash.CrashReporting$afterEvaluate$1.execute(crash_reporting.kt)
    at org.gradle.configuration.internal.DefaultListenerBuildOperationDecorator$BuildOperationEmittingAction$1$1.run(DefaultListenerBuildOperationDecorator.java:155)
    at org.gradle.configuration.internal.DefaultUserCodeApplicationContext.reapply(DefaultUserCodeApplicationContext.java:58)
    at org.gradle.configuration.internal.DefaultListenerBuildOperationDecorator$BuildOperationEmittingAction$1.run(DefaultListenerBuildOperationDecorator.java:152)
    at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:300)
    at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:292)
    at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:174)
    at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:90)
    at org.gradle.configuration.internal.DefaultListenerBuildOperationDecorator$BuildOperationEmittingAction.execute(DefaultListenerBuildOperationDecorator.java:149)
    at org.gradle.internal.event.BroadcastDispatch$ActionInvocationHandler.dispatch(BroadcastDispatch.java:91)
    at org.gradle.internal.event.BroadcastDispatch$ActionInvocationHandler.dispatch(BroadcastDispatch.java:80)
    at org.gradle.internal.event.AbstractBroadcastDispatch.dispatch(AbstractBroadcastDispatch.java:42)
    at org.gradle.internal.event.BroadcastDispatch$SingletonDispatch.dispatch(BroadcastDispatch.java:230)
    at org.gradle.internal.event.BroadcastDispatch$SingletonDispatch.dispatch(BroadcastDispatch.java:149)
    at org.gradle.internal.event.AbstractBroadcastDispatch.dispatch(AbstractBroadcastDispatch.java:58)
    at org.gradle.internal.event.BroadcastDispatch$CompositeDispatch.dispatch(BroadcastDispatch.java:324)
    at org.gradle.internal.event.BroadcastDispatch$CompositeDispatch.dispatch(BroadcastDispatch.java:234)
    at org.gradle.internal.event.ListenerBroadcast.dispatch(ListenerBroadcast.java:140)
    at org.gradle.internal.event.ListenerBroadcast.dispatch(ListenerBroadcast.java:37)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ProxyDispatchAdapter$DispatchingInvocationHandler.invoke(ProxyDispatchAdapter.java:93)
    at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy29.afterEvaluate(Unknown Source)
    at org.gradle.configuration.project.LifecycleProjectEvaluator$NotifyAfterEvaluate$1.execute(LifecycleProjectEvaluator.java:187)
    at org.gradle.configuration.project.LifecycleProjectEvaluator$NotifyAfterEvaluate$1.execute(LifecycleProjectEvaluator.java:184)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.project.DefaultProject.stepEvaluationListener(DefaultProject.java:1418)
    at org.gradle.configuration.project.LifecycleProjectEvaluator$NotifyAfterEvaluate.run(LifecycleProjectEvaluator.java:193)
    ... 95 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.DefaultTaskDependency.add(DefaultTaskDependency.java:185)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.AbstractTask$12.run(AbstractTask.java:430)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.TaskMutator.mutate(TaskMutator.java:40)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.AbstractTask.dependsOn(AbstractTask.java:428)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.PogoMetaMethodSite$PogoCachedMethodSite.invoke(PogoMetaMethodSite.java:169)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.PogoMetaMethodSite.call(PogoMetaMethodSite.java:71)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:128)
    at com.google.gms.googleservices.GoogleServicesPlugin.handleVariant(GoogleServicesPlugin.groovy:206)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.reflection.CachedMethod.invoke(CachedMethod.java:98)
    at groovy.lang.MetaMethod.doMethodInvoke(MetaMethod.java:325)
    at org.gradle.internal.metaobject.BeanDynamicObject$MetaClassAdapter.invokeMethod(BeanDynamicObject.java:479)
    at org.gradle.internal.metaobject.BeanDynamicObject.tryInvokeMethod(BeanDynamicObject.java:191)
    at org.gradle.internal.metaobject.ConfigureDelegate.invokeMethod(ConfigureDelegate.java:78)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.metaclass.ClosureMetaClass.invokeOnDelegationObjects(ClosureMetaClass.java:398)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.metaclass.ClosureMetaClass.invokeMethod(ClosureMetaClass.java:338)
    at groovy.lang.MetaClassImpl.invokeMethod(MetaClassImpl.java:1034)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.PogoMetaClassSite.callCurrent(PogoMetaClassSite.java:68)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callCurrent(AbstractCallSite.java:177)
    at com.google.gms.googleservices.GoogleServicesPlugin$_setupPlugin_closure6.doCall(GoogleServicesPlugin.groovy:148)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.reflection.CachedMethod.invoke(CachedMethod.java:98)
    at groovy.lang.MetaMethod.doMethodInvoke(MetaMethod.java:325)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.metaclass.ClosureMetaClass.invokeMethod(ClosureMetaClass.java:264)
    at groovy.lang.MetaClassImpl.invokeMethod(MetaClassImpl.java:1034)
    at groovy.lang.Closure.call(Closure.java:418)
    at groovy.lang.Closure.call(Closure.java:434)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.ClosureBackedAction.execute(ClosureBackedAction.java:71)
    at org.gradle.util.ConfigureUtil.configureTarget(ConfigureUtil.java:155)
    at org.gradle.util.ConfigureUtil.configure(ConfigureUtil.java:106)
    at org.gradle.util.ConfigureUtil$WrappedConfigureAction.execute(ConfigureUtil.java:167)
    at org.gradle.internal.ImmutableActionSet$SingletonSet.execute(ImmutableActionSet.java:225)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.DefaultDomainObjectCollection.doAdd(DefaultDomainObjectCollection.java:244)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.DefaultDomainObjectCollection.add(DefaultDomainObjectCollection.java:233)
    at com.android.build.gradle.LibraryExtension.addVariant(LibraryExtension.java:93)
    at com.android.build.gradle.internal.ApiObjectFactory.create(ApiObjectFactory.java:134)
    ... 124 more

Answer 1

I just found the solution while trying other things. For some reason I had the Google Services plugin in my library's gradle file, so I removed it and the project built without issues.

I removed this line

apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'