Unable to find method 'com.android.tools.r8.Ve

Question

I have updated my android studio to 3.4. I am getting error while making release build.

Unable to find method 
'com.android.tools.r8.Version.getVersionString()Ljava/lang/String;'.
Possible causes for this unexpected error include:
Gradle's dependency cache may be corrupt (this sometimes occurs after 
a network connection timeout.)
Re-download dependencies and sync project (requires network)

The state of a Gradle build process (daemon) may be corrupt. Stopping 
all Gradle daemons may solve this problem.
Stop Gradle build processes (requires restart)

Your project may be using a third-party plugin which is not compatible 
with the other plugins in the project or the version of Gradle 
requested by the project.

In the case of corrupt Gradle processes, you can also try closing the 
IDE and then killing all Java processes.

I have updated my dependencies in gradle Here is my gradle file

dependencies {
//Retrofit networking libraries
implementation 'com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.4.0'
implementation 'com.squareup.retrofit2:adapter-rxjava:2.4.0'
implementation 'com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-gson:2.4.0'
//Use for converting JsonObject to Plain Text in retrofit
implementation 'com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-scalars:2.1.0'
//http logging interceptor
implementation 'com.squareup.okhttp3:logging-interceptor:3.8.0'
// For circular progressbar design
implementation 'me.relex:circleindicator:1.2.2@aar'

//Crashlytics library dependency
implementation('com.crashlytics.sdk.android:crashlytics:2.6.5@aar') {
    transitive = true;
}
//ViewModel concept used in 
implementation 'android.arch.lifecycle:extensions:1.1.1'
implementation 'android.arch.lifecycle:livedata-core:1.1.1'

//RangeSeekBar Design 
implementation 'com.yahoo.mobile.client.android.util.rangeseekbar:rangeseekbar-library:0.1.0'

//Clevertap events
implementation 'com.clevertap.android:clevertap-android-sdk:3.2.0'

//For volley networking library implementation
implementation 'com.android.volley:volley:1.1.0'
//For token passing classes
implementation 'com.auth0.android:jwtdecode:1.1.1'
//Rooted device finding library
implementation 'com.scottyab:rootbeer-lib:0.0.7'

//Facebook integration
implementation 'com.facebook.android:facebook-android-sdk:4.35.0'
//New Relic interation library
implementation 'com.newrelic.agent.android:android-agent:5.9.0'

//Calender library
implementation project(':library')
//Channel level encryption library
implementation files('libs/bcprov-jdk15on-160.jar')
//Injection tool
annotationProcessor 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:6.1.0'
implementation 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:6.1.0'

/*annotationProcessor 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:10.1.0'
implementation 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:10.1.0'*/

//Image Loading library
implementation 'com.github.bumptech.glide:glide:3.7.0'
//Secure SQLite Database
implementation 'net.zetetic:android-database-sqlcipher:3.5.9@aar'
//Branch .io library
implementation('io.branch.sdk.android:library:2.+') {
    exclude module: 'answers.shim'
}

//noinspection GradleCompatible

implementation 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:26.0.2'
implementation 'com.android.support:design:26.0.2'
implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:11.0.1'
implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:11.0.1'
implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-core:11.0.1'
implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging:11.0.1'
implementation 'com.android.support:support-v4:26.0.2'
implementation fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')
implementation project(':mpointintegration')

}

I am not using kotlin. I checked various resources like below but none worked

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError - Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/String;

Android Studio 3.0 - Unable to find method 'com.android.build.gradle.internal.variant.BaseVariantData.getOutputs()Ljava/util/List'

also tried with Re-download dependencies and sync project & Stop Gradle build processes (requires restart) but none worked.

Project Level gradle File

// Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common 
to all sub-projects/modules.

buildscript {
repositories {
    jcenter()
    mavenCentral()
    google()
    maven { url "http://storage.googleapis.com/r8-releases/raw"}
}
dependencies {
    classpath ('com.android.tools:r8:1.3.52' ) { transitive false }
    classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.4.0'
    classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.2.0'
    classpath "com.newrelic.agent.android:agent-gradle-plugin:5.9.0"
    // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they 
belong
    // in the individual module build.gradle files
}
}


allprojects {
repositories {
    jcenter()
    maven {
        url 'https://maven.google.com'
    }

   // maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
    google()
}
}
ext {
 minSdkVersion = 15
 targetSdkVersion = 26
 compileSdkVersion = 26
 buildToolsVersion = '26.0.2'
 sourceCompatibilityVersion = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
 targetCompatibilityVersion = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
 }
 task clean(type: Delete) {
 delete rootProject.buildDir
 }
 ext.deps = [
    // Test dependencies
    junit      : 'junit:junit:4.10',
    festandroid: 'com.squareup:fest-android:1.0.7',
    robolectric: 'org.robolectric:robolectric:2.2',
    intellijannotations: 'com.intellij:annotations:12.0'
 ]

Answer 1

I solved it. From android studio 3.4 R8 versioning is added in android studio. So i did some changes in my build.gradle file and gradle.properties file

In my app level build.gradle file in release section I added one line

useProguard false

& in gradle.properties file

android.enableR8=true

so it will use R8 Versioning to create my APK.

Incase if you dont want to use R8 versioning and want to continue with proguard then make

 android.enableR8=false //in gradle.properties file

Hope this will help someone

Answer 2

The issue is that you have a fixed version dependency on R8 1.3.52:

classpath ('com.android.tools:r8:1.3.52' ) { transitive false }

And the com.android.tools.r8.Version method

public String getVersionString()

is only present in the R8 1.4 versions and above.

I assume that you are using a fixed version of R8 due to a bug fix in that version. However that should also be fixed in the latest version, so I suggest that you remove the fixed R8 version dependency and use what is shipped with Android Studio.