Grails 6 Completely Overcomplicated create-app build Environment

[codeconsole]

Grails 5.3.2 single file build.gradle
settings.gradle 1 line of code

became:

Grails 6.2
build.gradle
settings.gradle 16 lines of code
buildSrc/build.gradle

Dependencies went to

dependencies {
    implementation "org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-logging"
    implementation "org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-validation"
    implementation "org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-autoconfigure"
    implementation "org.grails:grails-core"
//  ...

dependencies {
    implementation("org.grails:grails-core")
    implementation("org.grails:grails-logging")
    implementation("org.grails:grails-plugin-databinding")
//  ...

Why are the parenthesis added? Katlin/Groovy hybrid? Formatting should remain consistent and representative of the languoge.

I am fine with build dependencies in buildSrc/build.gradle if that is the new convention, but why is it necessary for settings.gradle?
Are dependencies needed in 3 different locations? if so, why not just go back to buildscript {}

grails create-app should be as simple as possible. Having an overcomplicated build environment will scare away new developers who are not gradle experts.

Why historically so many dependencies?

grails-plugin-interceptors depends on grails-plugin-url-mappings depends on grails-plugin-controllers depends on grails-core and a lot of other stuff.

so why have grails-plugin-url-mappings, grails-plugin-controllers, grails-core listed redundantly if they are already going to be resolved?

[jamesfredley]

Since create-app generates a single-project build, the settings.gradle file is optional. Separately from this, I'd love to work on a create-app-multi-project command to generate a multi-project build.

buildSrc has independent dependency version resolution and this makes managing security more complex by either adjusting versions and dependencySubstitutions in two locations or trying to configure includes that will work in both locations which can have overlapping dependencies.

https://docs.gradle.org/7.6.2/userguide/plugins.html#sec:plugin_markers - support for local custom Gradle plugins in build.gradle

buildScript is still supported in Gradle 8.9

For a Grails single-project build, buildSrc and settings.gradle can be consolidated into:

build.gradle

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenLocal()
        mavenCentral()
        maven { url "https://plugins.gradle.org/m2/" }
        maven { url "https://repo.grails.org/grails/core" }
    }
    dependencies { // Not Published to Gradle Plugin Portal
        classpath("org.grails:grails-gradle-plugin:$grailsGradlePluginVersion")
        classpath("org.grails.plugins:hibernate5:$grailsPluginsHibernate5Version")
    }
}

plugins {
    // Published to Gradle Plugin Portal
    id "groovy"
    id "com.github.erdi.webdriver-binaries" version "3.2"
    id "war"
    id "idea"
    id "com.bertramlabs.asset-pipeline" version "$assetPipelineVersion"
    id "application"
    id "eclipse"

    // Not Published to Gradle Plugin Portal
    id "org.grails.grails-web" version "$grailsGradleWebGSPPluginVersion"
    id "org.grails.grails-gsp" version "$grailsGradleWebGSPPluginVersion"
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
    maven { url "https://repo.grails.org/grails/core/" }
}

// the rest of your build

with gradle.properties

grailsVersion=6.2.0
grailsGradlePluginVersion=6.1.2
version=0.1
org.gradle.caching=true
org.gradle.daemon=true
org.gradle.parallel=true
org.gradle.jvmargs=-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Xmx1024M
assetPipelineVersion=4.5.1
grailsPluginsHibernate5Version=8.1.0
grailsGradleWebGSPPluginVersion=6.2.0

[codeconsole]

@jamesfredley what about upcoming gradle 9 compatablility?

[jamesfredley]

@codeconsole I could not find anything on 9 in github, but 8.10 snapshots are coming from master and the plugin documentation is the same.

https://github.com/gradle/gradle/blob/master/platforms/documentation/docs/src/docs/userguide/authoring-builds/basics/plugins.adoc

[codeconsole]

Some other things we need to worry about in the current build:

% gradle --warning-mode all

> Configure project :
The org.gradle.api.plugins.Convention type has been deprecated. This is scheduled to be removed in Gradle 9.0. Consult the upgrading guide for further information: https://docs.gradle.org/8.9/userguide/upgrading_version_8.html#deprecated_access_to_conventions
The org.gradle.api.plugins.JavaPluginConvention type has been deprecated. This is scheduled to be removed in Gradle 9.0. Consult the upgrading guide for further information: https://docs.gradle.org/8.9/userguide/upgrading_version_8.html#java_convention_deprecation

upgrading_version_8.html

[jeffscottbrown]

what about upcoming gradle 9 compatablility?

Is there something coming in 9 that will help simplify the build?

[codeconsole]

Is there something coming in 9 that will help simplify the build?

It's not a Gradle thing.
Grails 6 just went down a path that over complicated the build. I am sure there were good intensions, but for 99% of the apps it adds more burden. Going back to how It was in 5 would simplify it.

Publishing the grails gradle plugin to the Gradle plugin repository would dramatically simplify the build further.

[jeffscottbrown]

It's not a Gradle thing.

What is it you are asking about when you asked about Gradle 9 compatibility?

[codeconsole]

It's not a Gradle thing.

What is it you are asking about when you asked about Gradle 9 compatibility?

I was asking James if that was the motivation for why it got so complicated from 5 -> 6 and it was not. Using buildscript {} is not needed and the whole build configuration can be greatly simplified