gradle-glossary

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== Glossary of Gradle terms

[[artifact]] === Artifact 'Artifact' is usually used in the context of publishing to designate a file whose name has a 'classifier' and 'extension'. Two artifacts in a <> cannot have the same classifier and extension.

Confusingly, when used in the context of <<maven-publication-format, Maven coordinates>>, an artifactId refers to a list of the above artifacts. For an example, the okhttp artifactId contains jar, sources and javadocs artifacts.

[[build]] === Build A 'build' is the aggregate of the atomic pieces of work performed by Gradle. A build is made up of <<project,projects>> and those projects have a collection of <<task, tasks>>. A build usually has an outcome of SUCCESS or FAILURE. You can run a build using the gradle or gradlew commands.

[[build-script]] === Build script A build.gradle script. The existence of a build script, along with an entry in the <<settings-script,settings script>> (other than for the root build script, which requires no entry), is what defines a Gradle <<module,module>>.

[[configuration]] === Configuration A https://docs.gradle.org/current/dsl/org.gradle.api.artifacts.Configuration.html[Configuration], at the most basic level, is a bucket of dependencies. The most common configurations, which most people would have seen, are api and implementation. A great place to learn more about configurations is the documentation for the https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/java_library_plugin.html[java-library] plugin.

While the usage as a bucket of dependencies is the most common for Gradle users, configurations can also https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/declaring_dependencies.html#sec:resolvable-consumable-configs[be used in other ways] by plugin authors:

• as a https://docs.gradle.org/current/javadoc/org/gradle/api/file/FileCollection.html[FileCollection] as an input to tasks (e.g. runtimeClasspath).
• as an outgoing https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/variant_model.html#understanding-variant-selection[variant] to be later https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/publishing_customization.html#sec:publishing-custom-components[published] (e.g. apiElements)

The word "configuration" is one of the most overloaded in the Gradle world. See also <<configuration-phase,configuration phase>>.

[[configuration-phase]] === Configuration phase A Gradle build is composed of two primary phases, the configuration phase (not to be confused with <> instances) and the <<execution-phase,execution phase>>. The configuration phase happens first and is single-threaded.

[[convention-plugin]] === Convention plugin A <> built on top of an <<ecosystem-plugin,ecosystem plugin>>, and which applies common conventions to the build script that uses the plugin.

See also https://developer.squareup.com/blog/herding-elephants/[Herding elephants: Wrangling a 3,500-module Gradle project].

[[ecosystem-plugin]] === Ecosystem plugin A <> responsible for building a language, such as Java (java and java-library), Groovy, Scala, Android, Kotlin, etc. Many plugins are maintained by <<gradle,Gradle>> itself, and are part of the Gradle distribution.

[[execution-phase]] === Execution phase The second primary phase of a Gradle build, the execution phase happens after the <<configuration-phase,configuration phase>> is complete. This is where all <<task,tasks>> actions are executed. This phase has multiple levels of parallelism.

[[gradle]] === Gradle https://gradle.org/[Gradle] is the open-source build system developed and maintained by https://gradle.com/[Gradle, Inc.], a for-profit company.

[[init-script]] === Init script An init, or https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/init_scripts.html[initialization script], is backed by an instance of the https://docs.gradle.org/current/javadoc/org/gradle/api/invocation/Gradle.html[Gradle type].

See also <<plugin,Plugin>>.

[[maven-build-tool]] === Maven (build tool) https://maven.apache.org/[Maven] is a build tool like Gradle but using a more declarative syntax based on XML. For publishing dependencies, Maven uses the <<maven-publication-format, Maven publication format>>.

[[maven-publication-format]] === Maven (publication format) The Maven publication format is the format used by most of the JVM ecosystem to publish and consume binary dependencies. Each dependency is identified by a "$group:$artifact:$version string called "Maven coordinates". These dependencies can then be consumed by accessing files (by HTTP or on the local filesystem) at $root/$group/$version/. For an example, the files for com.squareup.okhttp3:okhttp:4.9.3 are available at https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/com/squareup/okhttp3/okhttp/4.9.3/

While originally made for the <<maven-build-tool, Maven build tool>>, Gradle also supports the Maven publication format. In order to provide more flexibility, Gradle also introduced https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/publishing_gradle_module_metadata.html[Gradle module metadata] to provide more information about the dependencies than a regular https://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-the-pom.html[pom file]

[[maven-central]] === MavenCentral https://search.maven.org/[MavenCentral] is the main repository that hosts <<maven-publication-format, Maven publications>>. It is operated by a company named https://www.sonatype.com/[Sonatype] and is the default repository for a lot of the ecosystem. Other repositories exists like (now defunct) https://jfrog.com/blog/into-the-sunset-bintray-jcenter-gocenter-and-chartcenter/[jcenter] or the https://maven.google.com/web/index.html[Google Maven repository].

[[module]] === Module An informal term for a <>, but more common than the formal term. A module is a source code-containing directory, more or less independent of other modules in the same multi-module (or multi-project) project.

This is one of the other very heavily overloaded terms in the Gradle world. See also <<project,Project>>.

[[plugin]] === Plugin Gradle is built on a plugin system. Gradle itself is primarily composed of infrastructure, such as a sophisticated dependency resolution engine, common to all project types. The rest of its functionality comes from plugins, including "core" plugins distributed with <<gradle,Gradle>> itself, third-party plugins, and <<script-plugin,script plugins>> in a given build.

There are three kinds of plugin, based on the context in which they are applied:

. Project plugins that implement Plugin<Project>, applied in <<build-script,build scripts>>. . Settings plugins that implement Plugin<Settings>, applied in <<settings-script,settings scripts>>. . Init (Gradle) plugins that implement Plugin<Gradle>, applied in <<init-script,init scripts>>.

Plugins may be implemented as so-called binary plugins (that is, by explicitly implementing one of the specific generic interfaces described above), or as <<precompiled-script-plugin,precompiled script plugins>>. This distinction is merely an implementation detail.

cf. <<script-plugin,script plugins>>.

[[precompiled-script-plugin]] === Precompiled script plugin Equivalent to a <<plugin,plugin>>, but written such that it looks like a build script, https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/custom_plugins.html#sec:precompiled_plugins[precompiled script plugins] can be written in Groovy or Kotlin by applying the 'groovy-gradle-plugin' or kotlin-dsl plugin, respectively.

[[project]] === Project Often referred to as a "module", every Gradle project is backed by a https://docs.gradle.org/current/javadoc/org/gradle/api/Project.html[Project] instance, hence the name. The most common type of <> is a project plugin. Most Gradle projects are composed of many projects (sometimes called "subprojects").

[[publication]] === Publication A Gradle https://docs.gradle.org/current/javadoc/org/gradle/api/publish/Publication.html[Publication] is a list of <<artifact, artifacts>>, and possibly associated metadata. Most of the times, you will deal with https://docs.gradle.org/current/dsl/org.gradle.api.publish.maven.MavenPublication.html[MavenPublications] to publish in the <<maven-publication-format, Maven publication format>> with the https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/publishing_maven.html[maven-publish] plugin

[[script-plugin]] === Script plugin A gradle script that can be applied to other gradle scripts, including <<build-script,build scripts>>, <<settings-script,settings scripts>>, and <<init-script,init scripts>>. Can be written in Groovy or Kotlin, and are applied to other scripts via https://docs.gradle.org/current/javadoc/org/gradle/api/plugins/PluginAware.html#apply-java.util.Map-[PluginAware.apply]. For example, apply from: 'complicated_thing.gradle'. Depending on the type of script they are applied to, they're backed by either a <<project,Project>> instance, a <<settings-script,Settings>> instance, or a <<init-script,Gradle>> instance.

[[settings-script]] === Settings script A settings.gradle script. A https://docs.gradle.org/current/javadoc/org/gradle/api/initialization/Settings.html[settings script] has a large number of responsibilities, but one of the most important is declaring the set of <<project,projects>> that are part of the build, via include ':project1' and so on.

[[software-component]] === SoftwareComponent A https://docs.gradle.org/current/javadoc/org/gradle/api/component/SoftwareComponent.html[SoftwareComponent] is a list of artifacts built by Gradle. It's a relatively recent API used to connect <<configuration, outgoing configurations>> and <<publication, publications>>. Most of the times, you will use already existing components such as java or the https://proandroiddev.com/android-library-distribution-with-maven-publish-28ac59b8ecb8[android ones] to configure your maven publications. If you're a plugin author, you will most likely deal with https://docs.gradle.org/current/javadoc/org/gradle/api/component/AdhocComponentWithVariants.html[AdhowComponentWithVariants]

[[task]] === Task Each <<project,projects>> is made up of one or more tasks. Each task ought to be atomic (but often isn't), with inputs and outputs. Gradle executes tasks to perform its work. Task examples include: compiling source code, creating artifacts (such as jars or apks), generating Javadoc, running static analysis (e.g. lint), deleting temporary files, or publishing to a repository, etc. When a https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/more_about_tasks.html[Gradle task] is asked to run we can see the outcome of the task. This will be one of EXECUTED, SKIPPED, FAILED, FROM-CACHE, UP-TO-DATE, NO-SOURCE or blank (meaning executed).