ProGuard doesn't generate mapping file

Question

I have read multiple threads on SO but couldn't find any answer. I have multiple questions here. Let me describe:

• I don't know much about ProGuard but according to my information, it obfuscates the Android code to some extent. My question is Do I need to enable it somewhere? minifyEnabled is false in my Gradle file. Does this disable ProGuard completely?
• To deobfuscate the crash on Firebase and get stack trace, I need the mapping file. I can't find it anywhere. In app/build/outputs folder, I only have

Then I read somewhere about proguard-rules.pro file. It just had some comments and no code. Then I put this in it: -printmapping mapping.txt. Then generated signed APK again, still no success. What am I missing?

Edit 1: If I have to execute some adb terminal command, please describe steps. I have never used Terminal before.

Answer 1

try to check setting -> InstantRun... it must be disabled :)

Answer 2

In your gradle file you must specifically set the minifyEnabled option to true.
This enables obfuscation. By doing so, it also applies the obfuscation rules that you define on your 'proguard-rules.pro' file.

buildTypes {
    release {
        minifyEnabled true
        proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
    }
}

You can print the mapping and the seeds used (note that you need both to fully decode/understand the encrypted code) by applying the respective commands

-printseeds obfuscation/seeds.txt

and

-printmapping obfuscation/mapping.txt

An example of a basic proguard file is :

-optimizationpasses 5
-dontpreverify
-repackageclasses ''
-allowaccessmodification
-optimizations !code/simplification/arithmetic
-keepattributes *Annotation*

-verbose

-dump obfuscation/class_files.txt
-printseeds obfuscation/seeds.txt
-printusage obfuscation/unused.txt
-printmapping obfuscation/mapping.txt

Regards,

Answer 3

1. Set minifyEnabled to true.
2. Build generate APK.
3. Look in the outputs folder for mappings file.[Don't Clean Project or it will be gone]