android - Running app fails with error 'com.android.builder.dexing.DexArchiveMergerException: Unable to merge dex'

Question

I am trying to run my application on my phone but during build time it fails with the following error:

Execution failed for task ':app:transformDexArchiveWithExternalLibsDexMergerForDebug'.

java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.RuntimeException: com.android.builder.dexing.DexArchiveMergerException: Unable to merge dex

What I tried so far, but to no avail: -> Clean and rebuild (fails on rebuild) -> Remove ./gradle file and all project build and cache files, then cache invalidation

My project gradle file:

// Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.

buildscript {
    ext.kotlin_version = '1.1.51'
    repositories {
        jcenter()
        google()
        mavenCentral()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.0.0-beta6'

        // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong
        // in the individual module build.gradle files
        classpath "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-gradle-plugin:$kotlin_version"
    }
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
        google()
        mavenCentral()
    }
}

task clean(type: Delete) {
    delete rootProject.buildDir
}

My app Gradle file:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
apply plugin: 'kotlin-android'
apply plugin: 'kotlin-kapt'
apply plugin: 'kotlin-android-extensions'

def daggerVersion = '2.11'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 25
    buildToolsVersion "26.0.2"
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.connectus.connectus"
        minSdkVersion 16
        targetSdkVersion 25
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
    packagingOptions {
        exclude 'META-INF/INDEX.LIST'
    }
}

kapt {
    generateStubs = true
}

dependencies {
    /**
     * Kotlin
     */
    compile "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:$kotlin_version"
    compile 'org.jetbrains.anko:anko-support-v4:0.10.1'

    /**
     * Unit testing
     */
    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
    testCompile 'org.mockito:mockito-core:1.10.19'
    testCompile 'org.powermock:powermock-module-junit4:1.6.2'
    testCompile 'org.powermock:powermock-api-mockito:1.6.2'

    /**
     * Android views and widgets
     */
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:25.3.1'
    compile 'com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:25.3.1'
    compile 'com.android.support:cardview-v7:25.3.1'

    /**
     * Retrofit
     */
    compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.+'
    compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-gson:2.+'
    compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:adapter-rxjava:2.+'
    compile 'io.reactivex:rxjava:1.0.4'
    compile 'io.reactivex:rxandroid:0.24.0'

    /**
     * Glide
     */
    compile 'com.github.bumptech.glide:glide:3.7.0'

    /**
     * Dagger 2
     */
    kapt "com.google.dagger:dagger-compiler:$daggerVersion"
    compile "com.google.dagger:dagger:$daggerVersion"
    provided 'org.glassfish:javax.annotation:10.0-b28'

    /**
     * Butterknife for view injection
     */
    compile 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:8.8.1'
    kapt 'com.jakewharton:butterknife-compiler:8.8.1'

    /**
     * GSON
     */
    compile 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.6.2'
    compile 'org.powermock:powermock-api-mockito:1.6.2'

    /**
     * Facebook SDK
     */
    compile 'com.facebook.android:facebook-login:[4,5)'

    /**
     * UI Testing
     */
    androidTestCompile 'com.android.support:support-annotations:25.3.1'
    androidTestCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'

    testCompile 'com.google.dexmaker:dexmaker:1.2'
    testCompile 'com.google.dexmaker:dexmaker-mockito:1.2'
    androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.2') {
        exclude module: 'support-annotations'
    }
    androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-contrib:2.2.2') {
        exclude module: 'support-annotations'
        exclude module: 'appcompat-v7'
        exclude module: 'support-v4'
        exclude module: 'support-v13'
        exclude module: 'recyclerview-v7'
        exclude module: 'design'
    }
    androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test:runner:0.3') {
        exclude module: 'support-annotations'
    }
    androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test:rules:0.3') {
        exclude module: 'support-annotations'
    }
    compile "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib-jre7:$kotlin_version"
    implementation 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.0.2'
}

apply plugin: 'kotlin-android'
apply plugin: 'kotlin-android-extensions'
repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

I am using Kotlin and Android Studio 3.0.0 beta 6. What is the problem?

Answer 1

Although I am not completely sure about the cause for this, it seems, after doing some digging, that there is a version clash between the annotation libraries included by jetbrains in the kotlin plugin and somewhere else. You can verify this by running

gradle :app:assembleDebug --stacktrace

which gives, at the end,

Caused by: com.android.dex.DexException: Multiple dex files define Lorg/intellij/lang/annotations/JdkConstants$PatternFlags;
    at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.readSortableTypes(DexMerger.java:661)
    at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.getSortedTypes(DexMerger.java:616)
    at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeClassDefs(DexMerger.java:598)
    at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.mergeDexes(DexMerger.java:171)
    at com.android.dx.merge.DexMerger.merge(DexMerger.java:198)
    at com.android.builder.dexing.DexArchiveMergerCallable.call(DexArchiveMergerCallable.java:61)
    ... 1 more

I solved this by excluding the annotations library from kotlin dependency. (Clean and rebuild might be needed after this)

implementation ("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib-jre7:$kotlin_version") {
    exclude group: 'org.jetbrains', module: 'annotations'
}

This works for me, but I am not sure about how good this solution is.

Answer 2

add this

defaultConfig {
    multiDexEnabled true
}

like this:

android {
compileSdkVersion 25
buildToolsVersion "26.0.2"
defaultConfig {
    applicationId "com.connectus.connectus"
    minSdkVersion 16
    targetSdkVersion 25
    versionCode 1
    versionName "1.0"
    testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
}

defaultConfig {
   multiDexEnabled true
}

buildTypes {
    release {
        minifyEnabled false
        proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
    }
}
packagingOptions {
    exclude 'META-INF/INDEX.LIST'
}

}