purpose of com.android.tools.build

Question

I am a newbie to Android programming. I am using Android Studio 1.1.0

I have following query regarding building an app using gradle.

What is the purpose of specifying buildscript dependencies 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:1.1.0' in build.gradle

What does this build statement actually do.

I have searched the forum but could not find anything specific on this.

However from some of the google search it seems to suggest that this statement might be required for the gradle script to download Android Plugin for gradle.

I find it surprising that though I am using Android Studio I still need to download Android Plugin for gradle. Should it not be coming in-built.

Appreciate your time and help

Answer 1

As the name suggest, "Android Build Tools" is a command line tools for building your Java source code (along with all the related assets) into executable APK file. It's located at your Android SDK directory (usually at $ANDROID_HOME) and can be updated using Android SDK manager (accessible via Android Studio IDE).

---

What is the purpose of specifying buildscript dependencies com.android.tools.build:gradle:1.1.0 in build.gradle

Android is using Gradle build system. That build script dependency is Gradle plugin to interact (compile, test, etc) with the Android Build Tools. That line declares that your project require Android's Gradle plugin version 1.1.0.

---

I find it surprising that though I am using Android Studio I still need to download Android Plugin for gradle. Should it not be coming in-built.

Android Studio (AS) is just an IDE, you can actually use any IDE that support Gradle build system. Android Build Tools and its Gradle plugin (it's not AS plugin) is constantly updated by the devs separated from Android Studio project (although it's pretty closely related). Moreover, different projects can requires different version of build tools and its Gradle plugins. So it's just make sense that Android Studio requires them to be downloaded independently from the IDE.