[Android] Requiring images with Gradle 4 fails release builds

Hello guys,

I ran into this issue when updating Gradle and Android Studio.

Thanks for your help!

Is this a bug report?

Yes

Have you read the Contributing Guidelines?

Yes

Environment

Environment: OS: macOS Sierra 10.12.6 Node: 8.5.0 Yarn: 1.3.2 npm: 5.3.0 Watchman: 4.7.0 Xcode: Xcode 9.1 Build version 9B55 Android Studio: 3.0 AI-171.4408382

Packages: (wanted => installed) react: 16.0.0 => 16.0.0 react-native: 0.50.3 => 0.50.3

Target Platform: Android (22)

Steps to Reproduce

Requiring images with latest gradle fails release builds

I created a small test project but here are the steps to reproduce it:

1. Init a new project: react-native init Test
2. Update to latest Gradle:

• Open Android Studio and install recommended version
• Build from Android Studio, it should ask you to update build tools, do so

1. Require an image in index.js
2. Run cd android && ./gradlew assembleRelease

Expected Behavior

The command ./gradlew assembleRelease should not fail

Actual Behavior

Running ./gradlew assembleRelease when the image is required from the JS fails with:

/Users/almouro/bam/uefa/TestGradle3/android/app/build/intermediates/res/merged/release/drawable-mdpi/image.png: error: uncompiled PNG file passed as argument. Must be compiled first into .flat file..
error: failed parsing overlays.

If the image is not required, the command works fine.

Reproducible Demo

git clone https://github.com/Almouro/react-native-with-gradle-4
yarn
cd android
./gradlew assembleRelease

Workaround

Adding android.enableAapt2=false to android/gradle.properties fixes the issue but it is only a workaround.

[SharpMobileCode]

This bug has been a pain since we’ve upgraded to Android 3.x and setting android.enableAapt2 = false is not a sustainable long term workaround. It’s disappointing that there is no traction on this serious issue.

[iqbalshirol]

I had the same issue. But did not fix with - android.enableAapt2=false, as this has issues with other drawable resources in the project.

Fixed it with adding org.gradle.configureondemand=true in build.gradle, which shall disable the ‘bundleReleaseJsAndAssets’ task to run, which is the best solution and works in any condition. Hope this helps.