Cannot run existing Android Project com.android.tools:common:25.3.3

Question

Help! I´m a newbie to Android Studio and Android Programming. I did some Tutorials that worked fine. Now I tried to open an existing Android project I have to edit. I´m not even sure which file I need to open, I´ve chosen the one called "app" but the folder structure looks a little different. Now I can´t run the app, it seems it fails to build it. This is the error code I get:

Could not find com.android.tools:common:25.3.3.
Searched in the following locations:
    https://jcenter.bintray.com/com/android/tools/common/25.3.3/common-25.3.3.pom
    https://jcenter.bintray.com/com/android/tools/common/25.3.3/common-25.3.3.jar
Required by:
    project : > com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:gradle-core:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:builder:2.3.3
    project : > com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:gradle-core:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:builder:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:manifest-merger:25.3.3
    project : > com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:gradle-core:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:builder:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.ddms:ddmlib:25.3.3
    project : > com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:gradle-core:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:builder:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.analytics-library:shared:25.3.3
    project : > com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:gradle-core:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:builder:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.analytics-library:tracker:25.3.3
    project : > com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:gradle-core:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:builder:2.3.3 > com.android.tools:sdklib:25.3.3 > com.android.tools.layoutlib:layoutlib-api:25.3.3
    project : > com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:gradle-core:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:builder:2.3.3 > com.android.tools:sdklib:25.3.3 > com.android.tools:dvlib:25.3.3
    project : > com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:gradle-core:2.3.3 > com.android.tools.build:builder:2.3.3 > com.android.tools:sdklib:25.3.3 > com.android.tools:repository:25.3.3

I´ve noticed that the requested files don´t even exist in the link. How do I solve this? Thank you for your answers!!

Answer 1

I just ran into the exact same problem. The key point for you is that you are doing an initial import of a project and it appears to have a problem with the Gradle version being used by that particular project. Try changing the the project level build.gradle file:

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

buildscript {
    repositories {
        google() <-- added
        jcenter()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.3'

        // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong
        // in the individual module build.gradle files
    }
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        google()  <-- added
        jcenter()
    }
}

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

Resync the project Gradle files which will fail and offer to upgrade the Gradle plug-in:

Gradle DSL method not found: 'google()'
Possible causes:<ul><li>The project 'SampleApplication' may be using a version of the Android Gradle plug-in that does not contain the method (e.g. 'testCompile' was added in 1.1.0).
Upgrade plugin to version 3.2.0 and sync project</li><li>The project 'SampleApplication' may be using a version of Gradle that does not contain the method.
Open Gradle wrapper file</li><li>The build file may be missing a Gradle plugin.
Apply Gradle plugin</li>

When I upgrade the Gradle plug-in to the offered version and build tools version the project builds fine for me.

Update improved solution: Apparently the 2.3.3 plug-in is no longer available. Changing only the dependency works for me. No need to reference the google() repository.

classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.0'

UPDATE: The missing library versions have been restored to jcenter(). The problem in the question no longer needs this workaround.

Answer 2

Been struggling with this the whole day. This was happening for a fresh cordova android project. The issue was that the version 25.2.3 of the android build tools has been removed from all the repos(not sure why) but you can still get version 25.3.0 from mavenCentral.

For Cordova Users

Here is how I fixed it:

From your project folder navigate to platforms/android/cordovaLib and open up the build.gradle file and replace this line:

classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.2.3'

with:

classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.0'

then open up the build.gradle file the platforms/android/ folder and and make the above change in this file too.

And then replace:

 maven {
     url "https://maven.google.com"
 }

with:

mavenCentral()

For non Cordova users

Find all the build.gradle files and replace com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.2.3 with: 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.0'

And replace

maven {
     url "https://maven.google.com"
 }

with

mavenCentral()