Can't generate APK after adding Google Analytics, but working fine in debug mode

Question

It's a very weird situation. I can build my project, clean and build my project and can even run on physical device with debug mode. I also get all the data that I require on Google Analytics web page.

The sad part is, Android Studio is not generating release version, .apk file. I have followed exactly Add Analytics to Your Android App, the official tutorial, and also searched for many answers, but that exact problem is still there.

My build.gradle looks like this:

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

android {
    compileSdkVersion 23
    buildToolsVersion "23.0.0"

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.comname.appname"
        minSdkVersion 11
        targetSdkVersion 23
        versionCode 18
        versionName "2.7"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled true
            zipAlignEnabled true
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}


dependencies {
    compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
    compile files('libs/achartengine-1.1.0.jar')
    compile files('libs/SalatCalculator.jar')
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.0.0'
    compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:23.0.0'
    compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-analytics:7.8.0'
}

Here is the Gradle Build report:

Information:Gradle tasks [:app:assembleRelease]
:app:preBuild UP-TO-DATE
:app:preReleaseBuild UP-TO-DATE
:app:checkReleaseManifest
:app:preDebugBuild UP-TO-DATE
:app:prepareComAndroidSupportAppcompatV72300Library UP-TO-DATE
:app:prepareComAndroidSupportSupportV42300Library UP-TO-DATE
:app:prepareComGoogleAndroidGmsPlayServicesAnalytics780Library UP-TO-DATE
:app:prepareComGoogleAndroidGmsPlayServicesBase780Library UP-TO-DATE
:app:prepareReleaseDependencies
:app:compileReleaseAidl
:app:compileReleaseRenderscript
:app:generateReleaseBuildConfig
:app:generateReleaseAssets UP-TO-DATE
:app:mergeReleaseAssets
:app:generateReleaseResValues UP-TO-DATE
:app:processReleaseGoogleServices
:app:generateReleaseResources
:app:mergeReleaseResources
:app:processReleaseManifest
:app:processReleaseResources
:app:generateReleaseSources
:app:processReleaseJavaRes UP-TO-DATE
:app:compileReleaseJavaWithJavac
Note: D:\D\AndroidStudio\AppName\app\src\main\java\com\comname\AppName\util\NotificationGenerator.java uses or overrides a deprecated API.
Note: Recompile with -Xlint:deprecation for details.
:app:compileReleaseNdk UP-TO-DATE
:app:compileReleaseSources
:app:proguardRelease
Warning:com.google.android.gms.analytics.internal.zzam: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.NameValuePair
Warning:com.google.android.gms.analytics.internal.zzam: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.client.utils.URLEncodedUtils
Warning:com.google.android.gms.analytics.internal.zzam: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.NameValuePair
Warning:com.google.android.gms.analytics.internal.zzj: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.NameValuePair
Warning:com.google.android.gms.analytics.internal.zzj: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.client.utils.URLEncodedUtils
Warning:com.google.android.gms.analytics.internal.zzj: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.NameValuePair
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpEntity
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpResponse
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.StatusLine
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.client.HttpClient
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.conn.ClientConnectionManager
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.params.BasicHttpParams
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.params.BasicHttpParams
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpEntity
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpResponse
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.StatusLine
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.client.HttpClient
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.conn.ClientConnectionManager
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.client.HttpClient
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpResponse
Warning:com.google.android.gms.internal.zzqt: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.client.HttpClient
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzby: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.Header
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpEntity
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpEntityEnclosingRequest
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpHost
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpResponse
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.StatusLine
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.client.ClientProtocolException
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.client.HttpClient
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.message.BasicHttpEntityEnclosingRequest
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpHost
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.message.BasicHttpEntityEnclosingRequest
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpEntity
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpEntityEnclosingRequest
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpResponse
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.StatusLine
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.client.HttpClient
Warning:com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.zzcx: can't find referenced class org.apache.http.HttpEntityEnclosingRequest
Warning:there were 61 unresolved references to classes or interfaces.
         You may need to add missing library jars or update their versions.
         If your code works fine without the missing classes, you can suppress
         the warnings with '-dontwarn' options.
         (http://proguard.sourceforge.net/manual/troubleshooting.html#unresolvedclass)
Exception while processing task 
java.io.IOException: Please correct the above warnings first.
    at proguard.Initializer.execute(Initializer.java:473)
    at proguard.ProGuard.initialize(ProGuard.java:233)
    at proguard.ProGuard.execute(ProGuard.java:98)
    at proguard.gradle.ProGuardTask.proguard(ProGuardTask.java:1074)
    at com.android.build.gradle.tasks.AndroidProGuardTask.doMinification(AndroidProGuardTask.java:139)
    at com.android.build.gradle.tasks.AndroidProGuardTask$1.run(AndroidProGuardTask.java:115)
    at com.android.builder.tasks.Job.runTask(Job.java:48)
    at com.android.build.gradle.tasks.SimpleWorkQueue$EmptyThreadContext.runTask(SimpleWorkQueue.java:41)
    at com.android.builder.tasks.WorkQueue.run(WorkQueue.java:227)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
:app:dexRelease
:app:validateExternalOverrideSigning
:app:packageRelease FAILED
Error:Execution failed for task ':app:packageRelease'.
> Unable to compute hash of D:\D\AndroidStudio\AppName\app\build\intermediates\classes-proguard\release\classes.jar

Also regarding Note: D:\D\AndroidStudio\AppName\app\src\main\java\com\comname\AppName\util\NotificationGenerator.java uses or overrides a deprecated API., I have run Lint for this file and it has not displayed any such warning.

Answer 1

The problem is proguard related, you have proguard activated only on release profile ( minifyEnabled true ).

You have two options:

1. Disable Proguard setting this property to false. This option is really not recommended in case you are going to release the app.

2. Add rules to Proguard to works correctly with Analytics. This rules should be added to the file proguard-rules.pro and this is an example:

   -keep class com.google.android.gms.** { *; }
   -dontwarn com.google.android.gms.**
   

More info about Proguard in the Android Developers Page and the official project page

Hope it helps.