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bug(gradle): MODULE_DEPENDS_ON is empty on multi-module Android projects; settings.gradle never parsed #1603
Description
Split out of #1595 (report 6 of 9) — filed by @rrodriguesNutrium, credit to them. Described as the most consequential one for multi-module Android projects.
Three compounding defects in gradle.py:
1. _SETTINGS_INCLUDE_PATTERN (gradle.py:22) is dead code. It appears exactly once in the file — its own definition. There is no settings.gradle parsing pass at all, so declared module includes never reach the graph.
2. The path character classes omit :. Both _SETTINGS_INCLUDE_PATTERN and _PROJECT_DEP_PATTERN (gradle.py:19) use ([\\w.\\-/]+), which cannot match a colon:
include(":feature:symptoms") -> NO MATCH
include(":app") -> app
implementation(project(":feature:symptoms")) -> NO MATCH
implementation(project(":core:network")) -> NO MATCH
Only single-segment modules match, so on a standard Android multi-module layout MODULE_DEPENDS_ON is empty — edges missing, failing silently.
3. Module identity is the leaf directory. gradle.py:47 uses module_name = gradle_path.parent.name, so :feature:a:impl and :feature:b:impl both become impl and collide on GradleModule's MERGE key (writer.py:1533) — two distinct modules merge into one node.
A fix needs : in the path character classes, a real settings.gradle pass, and canonical :a:b:c identity used consistently on both the nodes and both endpoints of the dependency lookups (writer.py:1543-1560) — changing one side alone silently yields zero edges.
Also noted while there: _DEP_PATTERN (gradle.py:13) does not match Kotlin-DSL parenthesized dependency literals, so implementation(\"group:artifact:version\") declarations are missed for ExternalLibrary extraction.
The reporter has a working fix for the identity and settings-parsing parts on a local branch.
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github-actions commentedon Aug 13, 2026
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Shashankss1205 commentedon Aug 13, 2026
Partially fixed by #1621 (merged), which lands the module-identity half:
settings.gradle(.kts)is now actually parsed (_SETTINGS_INCLUDE_PATTERNis no longer dead code):added to the path character classes, so multi-segment paths match:feature:a:impland:feature:b:implno longer collide on theGradleModuleprimary keyVerified on a four-module fixture:
[':app', ':core:network', ':feature:other:impl', ':feature:symptoms'].Keeping this open, because the headline symptom —
MODULE_DEPENDS_ONempty on multi-module Android projects — still reproduces on Kotlin DSL.gradle.py:168requires whitespace between the configuration keyword andproject(:r"""(\w+)\s+project\(['"]:([\w.\-/:]+)['"]\)"""Groovy
implementation project(":core:network")matches; Kotlin DSLimplementation(project(":core:network"))does not. Measured on two otherwise-identical fixtures:Since
build.gradle.ktsis the modern Android default, the nodes are now right but the edges are still absent for most real projects. Same root cause as the_DEP_PATTERNgap noted in the original report, so both can be fixed together.fix(kuzu): declare build-system and datasource tables; repair UNWIND …