How can I use the incubating Vector API from Kotlin in a Gradle build?

Question

I want to use the new Vector API from a Kotlin project using a Gradle build.

I tried this:

tasks.withType<KotlinCompile> {
    kotlinOptions.jvmTarget = "17"
    kotlinOptions.freeCompilerArgs = listOf("--add-modules", "jdk.incubator.vector")
}

Result is:

Invalid argument: --add-modules

I've checked and the right SDK is being used, and help for javac at least shows --add-modules as a valid flag, so what I guess is going on is, this is the Kotlin compiler, and I need to provide a different flag, or some kind of prefixed flag to add a module to the classpath. What is the magic incantation here?

Answer 1

The Kotlin compiler's argument for this is named -Xadd-modules. You can pass it in this way:

kotlinOptions.freeCompilerArgs = listOf("-Xadd-modules=jdk.incubator.vector")

(Note that right now there is a bug KT-54288 which incorrectly makes this compiler argument unnecessary. So until it's fixed, you can get away without adding it to the build.)