Excluding the transitive com.google.http-client:google-http-client:1.42.1 child dependency from included dependencies in Gradle - google-app-engine

Question

I'm facing this weird java.lang.NoSuchMethodError in my Groovy project, and I have it pretty much down to that there's some transitive grand-child dependency, that is being included by multiple child dependencies (below is just the compileClasspath):
compileClasspath - Compile classpath for source set 'main'.
+--- com.github.javafaker:javafaker:1.0.2
| +--- org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.5
| +--- org.yaml:snakeyaml:1.23
| \--- com.github.mifmif:generex:1.0.2
| \--- dk.brics.automaton:automaton:1.11-8
+--- com.google.apis:google-api-services-gmail:v1-rev20220404-2.0.0
| \--- com.google.api-client:google-api-client:2.0.0
| +--- com.google.oauth-client:google-oauth-client:1.34.1
| | _+--- com.google.http-client:google-http-client:1.42.0 -> 1.42.1_
| | | +--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.5.13
| | | | +--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:4.4.13 -> 4.4.15
| | | | +--- commons-logging:commons-logging:1.2
| | | | \--- commons-codec:commons-codec:1.11
| | | +--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:4.4.15
| | | +--- com.google.code.findbugs:jsr305:3.0.2
| | | +--- com.google.guava:guava:30.1.1-android -> 31.1-jre
| | | | +--- com.google.guava:failureaccess:1.0.1
| | | | +--- com.google.guava:listenablefuture:9999.0-empty-to-avoid-conflict-with-guava
| | | | +--- com.google.code.findbugs:jsr305:3.0.2
| | | | +--- org.checkerframework:checker-qual:3.12.0
| | | | +--- com.google.errorprone:error_prone_annotations:2.11.0
| | | | \--- com.google.j2objc:j2objc-annotations:1.3
| | | +--- com.google.j2objc:j2objc-annotations:1.3
| | | +--- io.opencensus:opencensus-api:0.31.1
| | | | \--- io.grpc:grpc-context:1.27.2
| | | \--- io.opencensus:opencensus-contrib-http-util:0.31.1
| | | +--- io.opencensus:opencensus-api:0.31.1 (*)
| | | \--- com.google.guava:guava:29.0-android -> 31.1-jre (*)
| | +--- com.google.http-client:google-http-client-gson:1.42.0 -> 1.42.1
| | | _+--- com.google.http-client:google-http-client:1.42.1 (*)_
| | | \--- com.google.code.gson:gson:2.9.0
| | \--- com.google.guava:guava:31.1-android -> 31.1-jre (*)
| +--- com.google.http-client:google-http-client-gson:1.42.1 (*)
| +--- com.google.guava:guava:31.1-jre (*)
| +--- com.google.http-client:google-http-client-apache-v2:1.42.1
| | _+--- com.google.http-client:google-http-client:1.42.1 (*)_
| | +--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.5.13 (*)
| | \--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:4.4.15
| +--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:4.4.15
| +--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.5.13 (*)
| \--- _com.google.http-client:google-http-client:1.42.1 (*)_
\--- org.codehaus.groovy:groovy-all:2.4.7
My build.gradle looks like this :
plugins {
id 'java'
id "com.katalon.gradle-plugin" version "0.1.1"
}
repositories {
mavenCentral()
}
dependencies {
implementation 'com.github.javafaker:javafaker:1.0.2'
implementation 'com.google.apis:google-api-services-gmail:v1-rev20220404-2.0.0'
}
Notice that there are multiple instances of this com.google.http-client:google-http-client:1.42.1 across different child dependencies!
I try to get rid of those transitive dependencies with:
configurations.all {
exclude group: 'com.google.http-client', module: 'google-http-client'
}
but then my compileClasspath looks like:
compileClasspath - Compile classpath for source set 'main'.
+--- com.github.javafaker:javafaker:1.0.2
| +--- org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.5
| +--- org.yaml:snakeyaml:1.23
| \--- com.github.mifmif:generex:1.0.2
| \--- dk.brics.automaton:automaton:1.11-8
+--- com.google.apis:google-api-services-gmail:v1-rev20220404-2.0.0
| \--- com.google.api-client:google-api-client:2.0.0
| +--- com.google.oauth-client:google-oauth-client:1.34.1
| | +--- com.google.http-client:google-http-client-gson:1.42.0 -> 1.42.1
| | | \--- com.google.code.gson:gson:2.9.0
| | \--- com.google.guava:guava:31.1-android -> 31.1-jre
| | +--- com.google.guava:failureaccess:1.0.1
| | +--- com.google.guava:listenablefuture:9999.0-empty-to-avoid-conflict-with-guava
| | +--- com.google.code.findbugs:jsr305:3.0.2
| | +--- org.checkerframework:checker-qual:3.12.0
| | +--- com.google.errorprone:error_prone_annotations:2.11.0
| | \--- com.google.j2objc:j2objc-annotations:1.3
| +--- com.google.http-client:google-http-client-gson:1.42.1 (*)
| +--- com.google.guava:guava:31.1-jre (*)
| +--- com.google.http-client:google-http-client-apache-v2:1.42.1
| | +--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.5.13
| | | +--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:4.4.13 -> 4.4.15
| | | +--- commons-logging:commons-logging:1.2
| | | \--- commons-codec:commons-codec:1.11
| | \--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:4.4.15
| +--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:4.4.15
| \--- org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.5.13 (*)
\--- org.codehaus.groovy:groovy-all:2.4.7
There's NO instances of the com.google.http-client:google-http-client:1.42.1 ANYWHERE! It also doesn't resolve the Error.
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: com.google.api.client.http.HttpTransport.isMtls()Z
at com.google.api.services.gmail.Gmail$Builder.chooseEndpoint(Gmail.java:11179)
at com.google.api.services.gmail.Gmail$Builder.<init>(Gmail.java:11212)
at com.signaturemd.utils.GmailQuickstart.GetLabels(GmailQuickstart.groovy:72)
at com.signaturemd.utils.GmailQuickstart$GetLabels.call(Unknown Source)
at SMDEmailUtils.run(SMDEmailUtils:6)
What should I do to make sure that only ONE instance of com.google.http-client:google-http-client:1.42.1 is in the project, and that this Error goes away?

Answer 1

When you are saying "multiple instances" of the dependency what do you mean? I would assume you are confused by seeing multiple versions of the same dependency in the dependency graph.
But that has nothing to do with how many physical instances (jar files) will be packed up into the resulting artifact of your own. There is always just one physical instance of any dependency in the resulting artifact managed by either Gradle or Maven. However, if there are multiple different versions of the same dependency in the dependency graph they both choose the most appropriate version of that one physical instance as they see fit:
Gradle
In case of conflict, Gradle by default uses the newest of conflicting versions.
Maven
Dependency mediation - this determines what version of an artifact will be chosen when multiple versions are encountered as dependencies. Maven picks the "nearest definition". That is, it uses the version of the closest dependency to your project in the tree of dependencies. You can always guarantee a version by declaring it explicitly in your project's POM. Note that if two dependency versions are at the same depth in the dependency tree, the first declaration wins.
And you can override that version. So, in case of Gradle, instead of configuration.all { exclude {...} } that excludes the dependency from everywhere you can try configuring the resolutionStrategy like this:
configuration.all {
resolutionStrategy {
force "com.google.http-client:google-http-client:1.42.1"
}
}
That would (snippet from the doc below):
Allows forcing certain versions of dependencies, including transitive dependencies
This is what you need as per your original question. Like obviously, you don't want to exclude the dependency but rather you want to enforce the specific version of it.
For more info you can refer to the official documentation:
https://docs.gradle.org/current/dsl/org.gradle.api.artifacts.ResolutionStrategy.html
https://docs.gradle.org/current/dsl/org.gradle.api.artifacts.ResolutionStrategy.html#org.gradle.api.artifacts.ResolutionStrategy:force(java.lang.Object[])