DexException: Cannot merge new index 65536 into a non-jumbo instruction

Question

For some unknown reason my app suddenly won't build from Android Studio.

I'm keep getting

> com.android.ide.common.internal.LoggedErrorException: Failed to run command:
    /home/martynas/android-sdk/build-tools/19.1.0/dx --dex --num-threads=4 --output
...
...
...
Error Code:
2
Output:
UNEXPECTED TOP-LEVEL EXCEPTION:
com.android.dex.DexException: Cannot merge new index 65536 into a non-jumbo instruction!

While the same application is built successfully from command line. I've checked method references count and it's way below the dreaded 64k.

I'm using AS 0.8.11 now.

Answer 1

Set the jumboMode property in build.gradle:

android {
    ...
    dexOptions {
        jumboMode true
    }

}

I also found this useful: Showing dex method count by package.

Answer 2

Try to add this line on your project.properties

dex.force.jumbo=true

Which increment the limit for strings in a dex files. And your project will probably compile.

Note : Also with jumbo set, the is another limit of 64K only for methods in an single dex. If you get this limit in the future , you will need to remove some dependencies.

Update - Google Play Services 6.5 (12-08-14)

With version 6.5 Google finally unbundled the Google Play Services. So from now on it'll be possible to selectively compile the APIs into your executable.

Example :

compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:6.5.+'
compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:6.5.+'

For all the other individual Google Play Services APIs check this page on d.android.com.

Update (21-04-2015) : https://developer.android.com/tools/building/multidex.html