When trying jetpack compose it show error: compiler backend and cannot be loaded by the old compiler

Question

Class 'androidx.compose.ui.platform.ComposeView' is compiled by a new Kotlin compiler backend and cannot be loaded by the old compiler

This my onCreate method :

override fun onCreateView(
    inflater: LayoutInflater,
    container: ViewGroup?,
    savedInstanceState: Bundle?
): View? {
    return inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_delivered, container, false).apply {
        findViewById<ComposeView>(R.id.compose_view).setContent {
            MaterialTheme {
                Surface {
                    Text("Hello")
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Compose version:

accompanistVersion = "0.1.9"
composeVersion = '0.1.0-dev17'

app.gradle

buildFeatures {
        compose true
        dataBinding true
    }
    composeOptions {
        kotlinCompilerVersion rootProject.kotlinVersion
        kotlinCompilerExtensionVersion rootProject.composeVersion
    }



// Compose
    implementation "androidx.compose.runtime:runtime:$rootProject.composeVersion"
    implementation "androidx.compose.ui:ui:$rootProject.composeVersion"
    implementation "androidx.compose.foundation:foundation:$rootProject.composeVersion"
    implementation "androidx.compose.foundation:foundation-layout:$rootProject.composeVersion"
    implementation "androidx.compose.material:material:$rootProject.composeVersion"
    implementation "androidx.compose.ui:ui-viewbinding:$rootProject.composeVersion"
    implementation "androidx.ui:ui-tooling:$rootProject.composeVersion"
    implementation "androidx.compose.runtime:runtime-livedata:$rootProject.composeVersion"
    implementation "com.google.android.material:compose-theme-adapter:$rootProject.composeVersion"
    implementation "dev.chrisbanes.accompanist:accompanist-coil:$rootProject.accompanistVersion"

Answer 1

Please add this task in your app/build.gradle file:

tasks.withType(org.jetbrains.kotlin.gradle.tasks.KotlinCompile).configureEach {
    kotlinOptions {
        jvmTarget = "1.8"
        freeCompilerArgs += ["-Xallow-jvm-ir-dependencies", "-Xskip-prerelease-check"]
    }
}

Answer 2

The default app/build.grade, when creating a new project with an "Empty Compose Activity", includes the following options.

android {
    // other options

    kotlinOptions {
        jvmTarget = '1.8'
        useIR = true
    }

    // more options
}

Adding these options (specifically useIR = true) seemed to fix the error for me.

---

The useIR option references a new JVM backend for Kotlin for which the documentation specifically states the following.

If you enable Jetpack Compose, you will automatically be opted in to the new JVM backend without needing to specify the compiler option in kotlinOptions.

Which is seemingly incorrect.

Answer 3

Following the steps in the official setup guide lead me to the same problem.

Adding the necessary dependencies/configuration for the compose library fixed this issue for me.

Answer 4

.kts version

tasks.withType<KotlinCompile>() {
    kotlinOptions.jvmTarget = "1.8"
    kotlinOptions.freeCompilerArgs = listOf(
        *kotlinOptions.freeCompilerArgs.toTypedArray(),
        "-Xallow-jvm-ir-dependencies",
        "-Xskip-prerelease-check")
    useIR = true
}