Overwrite repository definition in gradle subproject

Question

Imagine you have a gradle build with a gradle subproject. This subproject has some applied script plugin which define their own repositories like this:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        //jcenter()
        maven {
            url 'https://example.com/plugins.gradle.org/m2/'
        }
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'org.asciidoctor:asciidoctor-gradle-plugin:1.5.3'
    }
}

Now imagine you only own the main project, not the sub project (it is a git submodule).

How can you override the repository definitions of the subproject from the main project?

PS: if you need a better description of the subproject, here it is: https://github.com/docToolchain/docToolchain

Update: I've created an example to paly around with: https://github.com/rdmueller/SO56283254/blob/master/README.adoc

see the readme for more details

Answer 1

I believe I have a solution for the scenario described in the question (but note the caveat below!). You can put something like the following into your settings.gradle file of the root project:

gradle.allprojects { project ->
    if (project.path == ':subproject') {
        project.buildscript.repositories { repos ->
            all { repo ->
                // filtering by repo name here; you could certainly also use
                // the URL or other properties
                if (repo.name == 'maven') {
                    remove repo
                    // TODO replace with the repo you need here:
                    mavenCentral()
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

As M.Ricciuti’s answer says, the caveat is that this won’t work for buildscript repositories in script plugins like the one you apply to the subproject of your sample GitHub project (apply from: 'scripts/AsciiDocBasics.gradle').