"kotlinx.serialization core version is too low" cumbersome message when previous version is present in transitive dependencies

We have a lot of reports in slack with Your current kotlinx.serialization core version is too low, while current Kotlin compiler plugin 1.4.0 requires at least 1.0-M1-SNAPSHOT. Please update your kotlinx.serialization runtime dependency error message even though there is a direct dependency in the Gradle [1].

The root of the problem – the previous version is present in the transitive dependencies.

The proper solution would be to detect this transitivity and indicate it in the error message

[xjcl]

For anyone stumbling across this, in my case I resolved this by replacing

implementation "org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-serialization-runtime:0.20.0" 

with

implementation "org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-serialization-core:1.0.0-RC"

in build.gradle.

Can someone illuminate me on what the difference is? If this is just a renaming, can we trigger some sort of IDE warning about this?

[iromeo]

I get a similar error in the plugin for IntelliJ IDEA that depends on IntelliJ Platform SDK for version 2021.3, but not for 2021.2.x. Error message is: Your current kotlinx.serialization core version is too low, while current Kotlin compiler plugin 1.6.0 requires at least 1.0-M1-SNAPSHOT. Please update your kotlinx.serialization runtime dependency. error.

Could be reproduced using recommended IntelliJ plugin template (https://github.com/JetBrains/intellij-platform-plugin-template)

My minimal intellij plugin test case: kotlinx_issue.tar.gz

If you change platformVersion in gradle.properties to 2021.2.3 - everyting is ok, but with 2021.3 compilation error.

---

The plugin uses kotlinx serialization library 1.3.1 and kotlin 1.6.0

# build.gradle.kts

plugins {
    // Java support
    id("java")
    // Kotlin support
    id("org.jetbrains.kotlin.jvm") version "1.6.0"
    id("org.jetbrains.kotlin.plugin.serialization") version "1.6.0"
   ...
}
dependencies {
    implementation("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-serialization-core:1.3.1")
}
...

I assume this is caused by the difference dependencies that come from IntelliJ Platform SDK:

• 2021.2.3: JAR files with version info:

.idea_distrib_cache/ideaIC-2021.2.3/lib/kotlinx-serialization-core-jvm-1.1.0.jar
.idea_distrib_cache/ideaIC-2021.2.3/lib/kotlinx-serialization-json-jvm-1.1.0.jar
.idea_distrib_cache/ideaIC-2021.2.3/lib/kotlinx-coroutines-jdk8.jar

• 2021.3: Kotlin coroutines, datetime, serialization JAR files merged into a single file, w/o version info:

ideaIC-2021.3/lib/kotlinx.jar

---

Update: In my case several kotlinx libraries were repackaged in IntellliJ Platfrom SDK, 2021.3, but META-INF/MANIFEST.MF file is missing, so the compiler fails to detect what kotlinx implementation api is used (stored as a property manifest file, e.g. Implementation-Version: 1.1.0). In future sdk versions this will be fixed.

As a temporary workaround: Disable the error message from compiler using @Suppress("PROVIDED_RUNTIME_TOO_LOW") before every @Serializable, e.g.:

    @Suppress("PROVIDED_RUNTIME_TOO_LOW")
    @Serializable
    data class WrapperInfo(
    ...
    )