Gradle is a build automation tool.
To generate a java application under a directory named tutorial, gradle init is executed as in the following: gradle init –type java-application –dsl kotlin
This creates a root project ‘tutorial’ with the subproject ‘app’. There can be multiple subprojects under the root project each with its own build.gradle(.kts) file.
The recommended way to execute any Gradle build is with the help of the Gradle wrapper. The wrapper is a script (called gradlew or gradlew.bat) that invokes a declared version of Gradle, downloading it beforehand if necessary. Instead of running gradle build using the installed Gradle, you use the Gradle wrapper by calling ./gradlew build.
Gradle script allows you to run Gradle build without requiring Gradle being installed on your system.
Executing Gradle on the command line conforms to the following structure:
gradle [taskName1 taskName2…] [–option-name…]
Gradle is a framework for building applications. Gradle builds artifacts class files, XML, data/graphics into deployment artifacts war/jar/apk while managing dependencies during this process.
Other build systems Maven Ivy and Ant use xml to describe a build while Gradle does this in a different language called Groovy (a variant of Java). Using a programming language rather than a declarative XML technique makes it easier to make modifications to the build and make them more complicated.
Key features of Gradle:
- Build file Human and machine readeble instruction file Declarative and programmatic Uses DSL and Groovy (also Kotlin) Default name - build.gradle
- Construct a Graph of Tasks Tasks are detailed build steps parsed from build.gradle Gradle creates a directed acyclic graph (does not repeat itself, does not go back in a cycle)
- Executes the tasks Gradle executes the tasks in order Each task produces output used by the next task Saves the output of each task
- Manages dependencies external Java code libraries may have additional internal dependencies need to be the correct version
- Uses repositories
- Self updating auto retrieval of new versions of Gradle can also monitor new version of dependencies
