Use different VersionCode for Debug/Release android gradle build

Question

I'd like to apply different VersionCode to make apk file. For debug only fix it to 1, and for release whatever number specified in defaultConfig.

Below code gives mypackage-release-1.apk file as assembleRelease artifact, which is not expected. I expected mypackage-release-10111.apk for that.

why the line debug { defaultConfig.versionCode=1 } affects assembleRelease artifact?

defaultConfig {
    versionCode 10111
    versionName '2.5.4'
    minSdkVersion 10
    targetSdkVersion 21
}
signingConfigs {
    debug {
        project.ext.loadSign = false
        defaultConfig.versionCode = 1 // Why this value applied to assembleRelease?
    }
    release {
        project.ext.loadSign = true
        applicationVariants.all { variant ->
            variant.outputs.each { output ->
                def file = output.outputFile
                output.outputFile = new File(file.parent, file.name.replace(".apk", "-" + defaultConfig.versionCode + ".apk"))
            }
        }
    }
}
buildTypes {
    debug {
        signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
    }
    release {
        signingConfig signingConfigs.release
    }
}

Answer 1

Late on the party...

The entire gradle file evaluated before any task execution, so you are basically changing the default versionCode while declaring debug configs. There is no direct way to reset versionCode from buildType, but the link on the other answer do the trick by declaring a task on build variants.

android {
    ...
    defaultConfig {
         ...
    }
    buildTypes {
         ...
    }
    applicationVariants.all { variant ->
        def flavor = variant.mergedFlavor
        def versionCode = flavor.versionCode
        if (variant.buildType.isDebuggable()) {
            versionCode += 1
        }
        flavor.versionCode = versionCode
    }
}