Use Proguard for stripping unused Support lib clas

Question

I'm adding the Android Support library to my project and I've noticed the resulting APK file inflates in size quite a bit.

What I'm trying to do is use Proguard to remove classes in the library that I don't use, e.g. the backword compatible Notification builder class (in fact, I tested this without even using anything from the Support lib, I just dropped it in my /libs folder).

My proguard.cfg is exactly what's in <sdktools>\tools\proguard\proguard-android.txt, with my own addition of -dontobfuscate (as I don't really need obfuscation), however, I'm not seeing my .APK file become any smaller. My proguard.cfg is below:

# This is a configuration file for ProGuard.
# http://proguard.sourceforge.net/index.html#manual/usage.html

-dontobfuscate
-dontusemixedcaseclassnames
-dontskipnonpubliclibraryclasses
-verbose

# Optimization is turned off by default. Dex does not like code run
# through the ProGuard optimize and preverify steps (and performs some
# of these optimizations on its own).
-dontoptimize
-dontpreverify
# Note that if you want to enable optimization, you cannot just
# include optimization flags in your own project configuration file;
# instead you will need to point to the
# "proguard-android-optimize.txt" file instead of this one from your
# project.properties file.

-keepattributes *Annotation*
-keep public class com.google.vending.licensing.ILicensingService
-keep public class com.android.vending.licensing.ILicensingService

# For native methods, see http://proguard.sourceforge.net/manual/examples.html#native
-keepclasseswithmembernames class * {
    native ;
}

# keep setters in Views so that animations can still work.
# see http://proguard.sourceforge.net/manual/examples.html#beans
-keepclassmembers public class * extends android.view.View {
   void set*(***);
   *** get*();
}

# We want to keep methods in Activity that could be used in the XML attribute onClick
-keepclassmembers class * extends android.app.Activity {
   public void *(android.view.View);
}

# For enumeration classes, see http://proguard.sourceforge.net/manual/examples.html#enumerations
-keepclassmembers enum * {
    public static **[] values();
    public static ** valueOf(java.lang.String);
}

-keep class * implements android.os.Parcelable {
  public static final android.os.Parcelable$Creator *;
}

-keepclassmembers class **.R$* {
    public static ;
}

# The support library contains references to newer platform versions.
# Don't warn about those in case this app is linking against an older
# platform version.  We know about them, and they are safe.
-dontwarn android.support.**

Answer 1

The Android SDK only applies ProGuard in release builds, not in debug builds.

Furthermore, the Android SDK (r20 or higher) typically looks for proguard-project.txt instead of proguard.txt in your project. This file can generally be empty, because the build process also reads the global file proguard-android.txt. You may want to update your project with

android update project -p MyProjectDirectory

Finally, the Android SDK (r20 or higher) disables ProGuard's optimization step by default (which can improve on its shrinking step). You can enable it by pointing to proguard-android-optimize.txt instead of proguard-android.txt in your project.properties.