Build error with gradle Could not find method testCompile()

Question

I'm new to gradle and I'm getting a build error that I don't really understand. My project is just an empty shell with the directory structure and no java source code. Here is my root build.gradle file

allprojects {     //Put instructions for all projects     task hello << { task -> println "I'm $task.project.name" } }  subprojects {     //Put instructions for each sub project     apply plugin: "java"     repositories {         mavenCentral()     } }  dependencies {     testCompile group: 'junit', name: 'junit', version: '4.+' } 

when I execute the gradle build command the build fails because it doesn't know the testCompile method with this message:

Could not find method testCompile() for arguments [{group=junit, name=junit, version=4.+}] on root project

I use Gradle 2.5.

I've understood that this method is a part of the java plugin which I've loaded. I don't see what went wrong, can you help?

Answer 1

In case anyone comes here based on the Could not find method testCompile() error, by now the more probable cause is that you need to replace the deprecated testCompile by testImplementation. See What's the difference between implementation and compile in Gradle?

Answer 2

The java plugin is only applied to subprojects, so the testCompile configuration, added by the java plugin, can only be used in subprojects. The below works:

allprojects {     //Put instructions for all projects     task hello << { task -> println "I'm $task.project.name" } }  subprojects {     //Put instructions for each sub project     apply plugin: "java"     repositories {         mavenCentral()     }        dependencies {         testCompile group: 'junit', name: 'junit', version: '4.+'     } }