Include test dependencies in generated libraries list

[igorwojda]

Currently (12.2.4), libraries used only in the test configurations are not included in the generated libraries list.

Technically, these dependencies are not bundled with the app, but they are still an important part of the project. Including them would help acknowledge and credit the authors of testing libraries and frameworks.

Examples of missing libraries:

• Konsist
• MockK
• JUnit
  (and other test-only dependencies)

Steps to reproduce:

1. Clone and run android-showcase
2. Open the app.
3. Navigate to Settings → Open Source Licences.
4. Notice that test-only dependencies (e.g., Konsist, MockK, JUnit) are not shown.

Expected behavior:

• Option (configurable): Ability to include test dependencies in the libraries list (on by default).
• This would allow projects to transparently display and credit all libraries used, not only those bundled in production.

Use case / Rationale:

• Properly credit open-source authors, even for tooling/test dependencies.
• Maintain transparency about all libraries used in a project.

[mikepenz]

Hi @igorwojda

Thank you for the feature request.

Yes, you are absolutely right that these in practice also are core tools for the project. I'll look into offering a configuration to include build dependencies as well. Currently they are filtered out by the plugin automatically.

[mikepenz]

Have you tried enabling

aboutLibraries {
  collect {
     all = false
  }
}

with v13?

[igorwojda]

For v 13.0 the all property is read only

I have updated main branch to use 13.0.0
https://github.com/igorwojda/android-showcase

Config is here
https://github.com/igorwojda/android-showcase/blob/main/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/com/igorwojda/showcase/buildlogic/AboutLibrariesConventionPlugin.kt

[mikepenz]

Hmmm it is a property so you should be able to set a value for it 🤔
https://github.com/mikepenz/AboutLibraries/blob/develop/plugin-build/plugin/src/main/kotlin/com/mikepenz/aboutlibraries/plugin/AboutLibrariesExtension.kt#L179C18-L180C1

Oh, you probably need to use the .set() method?

[igorwojda]

This did the trick for configuration

extensions.configure<AboutLibrariesExtension> {
    collect {
        all.set(true)
    }
}

However Konsist (and other text libraries) are not shown in the list. Perhaps there is some issue with about libraries configuration when configured via Gradle Convention plugins 🤔

Happy to try more things.

BTW Just noticed that bunch of libs is duplicated for me e.g.:

[mikepenz]

Konsist would only be gradle plugin space I believe. And the about libs plugin includes the module dependencies. I suspect that's causing this behavior?

Probably would be something interesting to investigate, and see if those can also be nicely detected, no clue if the same logic to retrieve information of the POM would work for those.

---

Related the duplication. By default, every single dependency (and also variant of dependency) is detected.
See default setup: https://github.com/mikepenz/AboutLibraries/blob/develop/plugin-build/plugin/src/main/kotlin/com/mikepenz/aboutlibraries/plugin/AboutLibrariesExtension.kt#L98-L99

You probably wanna move to the MERGE strategy, to handle these: https://github.com/mikepenz/AboutLibraries/blob/develop/plugin-build/plugin/src/main/kotlin/com/mikepenz/aboutlibraries/plugin/AboutLibrariesExtension.kt#L562

[igorwojda]

Konsist is defined as test dependency in konsist-test module (test source set - same as Junit, Mockk, etc. that are also not present in libraries list)
https://github.com/igorwojda/android-showcase/blob/main/konsist-test/build.gradle.kts

The DuplicateMode.MERGE solved the duplication issue although I would expect this to be default behaviour (don't really see a value in duplicating dependencies)

[igorwojda]

According to docs I see that test configurations are skipped even if all is set to true:

collect {
        all.set(true)
    }

Is there an easy way to include these test configurations (withotur listing them one by one)?

[mikepenz]

let me actually add this feature. sorry, missed that when looking up the config before.

[igorwojda]

I think by default library should contain all deps. After the key goal here is to acknowledge open-source.
I think ideal would be just add test dependencies by default and also set merge policy to avoid duplicates (useful default settings).

[mikepenz]

To reduce behavior changes for users of this library, including test will stay opt-in.

However I am going to make the change to the duplication rule, as that will be not as big of a behavioral change for people