Can't build ionic cordova project for android Task :app:mergeReleaseResources FAILED

[glenelkinsdev]

I'm at the end of my tether with this, the ionic cordova app builds fine for iOS but when i try to build for android i get this "Task :app:mergeReleaseResources FAILED"

NOTE: Right now i have to use androd 10 as 11 produces even more issues i don't have time to deal with right now.

It doesn't give me any information on what this is supposed to mean! The resources in the splash and icon folders are there so i don't know what it's talking about. Here is the output:

> Task :app:mergeReleaseResources FAILED

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':app:mergeReleaseResources'.
> A failure occurred while executing com.android.build.gradle.internal.res.ResourceCompilerRunnable
   > Resource compilation failed. Check logs for details.

* Try:
Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output. Run with --scan to get full insights.

* Get more help at https://help.gradle.org

Deprecated Gradle features were used in this build, making it incompatible with Gradle 8.0.

You can use '--warning-mode all' to show the individual deprecation warnings and determine if they come from your own scripts or plugins.

See https://docs.gradle.org/7.1.1/userguide/command_line_interface.html#sec:command_line_warnings

BUILD FAILED in 12s
29 actionable tasks: 9 executed, 20 up-to-date
Command failed with exit code 1: /Volumes/Second/Projects/my-filter/frontend/platforms/android/gradlew :app:bundleRelease -b /Volumes/Second/Projects/my-filter/frontend/platforms/android/build.gradle
Error: Command failed with exit code 1: /Volumes/Second/Projects/my-filter/frontend/platforms/android/gradlew :app:bundleRelease -b /Volumes/Second/Projects/my-filter/frontend/platforms/android/build.gradle
    at makeError (/Volumes/Second/Projects/my-filter/frontend/node_modules/cordova-android/node_modules/execa/lib/error.js:60:11)
    at handlePromise (/Volumes/Second/Projects/my-filter/frontend/node_modules/cordova-android/node_modules/execa/index.js:118:26)
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:96:5)
    at async ProjectBuilder.build (/Volumes/Second/Projects/my-filter/frontend/node_modules/cordova-android/lib/builders/ProjectBuilder.js:316:20)
[ERROR] An error occurred while running subprocess cordova.

        cordova build android --release --verbose exited with exit code 1.

        Re-running this command with the --verbose flag may provide more information.
  ionic:utils-process onBeforeExit handler: 'process.exit' received +0ms
  ionic:utils-process onBeforeExit handler: running 2 functions +1ms
  ionic:utils-process processExit: exiting (exit code: 1) +29ms

This is my package.json - as i say this builds no problem for iOS and this error it's giving me doesn't even make sense:

{
  "name": "org.apache.cordova.newapp",
  "displayName": "frontend",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "A sample Apache Cordova application that responds to the deviceready event.",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "ng": "ng",
    "start": "ng serve",
    "build": "ng build",
    "test": "ng test",
    "lint": "ng lint",
    "e2e": "ng e2e",
    "build-prod": "node --max_old_space_size=5048 ./node_modules/@angular/cli/bin/ng build --prod"
  },
  "private": true,
  "dependencies": {
    "@angular-devkit/build-angular": "^0.803.24",
    "@angular/animations": "^10.2.5",
    "@angular/cdk": "^14.2.1",
    "@angular/common": "^8.2.10",
    "@angular/compiler": "^8.2.10",
    "@angular/core": "^8.2.10",
    "@angular/forms": "^8.2.14",
    "@angular/http": "^7.2.16",
    "@angular/platform-browser": "^8.2.10",
    "@angular/platform-browser-dynamic": "^8.2.10",
    "@angular/router": "^8.2.10",
    "@awesome-cordova-plugins/camera": "^5.39.0",
    "@awesome-cordova-plugins/core": "^5.37.3",
    "@awesome-cordova-plugins/diagnostic": "^5.37.3",
    "@awesome-cordova-plugins/file": "^5.39.0",
    "@awesome-cordova-plugins/ionic-webview": "^5.37.3",
    "@awesome-cordova-plugins/keyboard": "^5.41.0",
    "@awesome-cordova-plugins/photo-viewer": "^5.38.0",
    "@ionic-native/core": "^5.36.0",
    "@ionic-native/fcm": "^5.36.0",
    "@ionic-native/file": "^5.36.0",
    "@ionic-native/image-picker": "^5.36.0",
    "@ionic-native/in-app-browser": "^5.36.0",
    "@ionic-native/media-capture": "^5.36.0",
    "@ionic/angular": "^5.9.3",
    "@ionic/cordova-builders": "^7.0.0",
    "@ionic/core": "^5.8.4",
    "@ng-bootstrap/ng-bootstrap": "^5.3.1",
    "angular-linky": "^1.2.2",
    "angular-password-strength-meter": "^3.0.1",
    "cordova-plugin-splashscreen": "^6.0.2",
    "date-fns": "^2.25.0",
    "emoji-js": "^3.6.0",
    "flatpickr": "^4.6.9",
    "hammerjs": "^2.0.8",
    "ionicons": "^5.5.3",
    "jquery": "^3.6.0",
    "ng-socket-io": "^0.2.4",
    "ng2-cordova-oauth": "^0.0.8",
    "ng2-file-upload": "^1.4.0",
    "ngb-modal": "^2.0.3",
    "ngx-emoji-picker": "0.0.2",
    "ngx-file-drop": "^10.1.1",
    "ngx-image-cropper": "^3.3.5",
    "ngx-infinite-scroll": "^9.1.0",
    "ngx-ui-loader": "^8.0.0",
    "rxjs": "^6.6.7",
    "rxjs-compat": "^6.6.7",
    "socket.io-client": "^2.4.0",
    "tslib": "^1.14.1",
    "ws": "^7.5.5",
    "zone.js": "~0.9.1",
    "zxcvbn3": "^0.1.1"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@angular/cli": "^8.3.29",
    "@angular/compiler-cli": "^8.2.10",
    "@angular/language-service": "^8.2.10",
    "@ionic/angular-toolkit": "latest",
    "@types/jasmine": "~3.3.8",
    "@types/jasminewd2": "^2.0.10",
    "@types/node": "~8.9.4",
    "codelyzer": "^5.0.0",
    "com-sarriaroman-photoviewer": "^1.2.5",
    "cordova-android": "^10.1.2",
    "cordova-ios": "^6.2.0",
    "cordova-plugin-camera": "^6.0.0",
    "cordova-plugin-compat": "^1.2.0",
    "cordova-plugin-device": "2.0.2",
    "cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated": "^7.8.0",
    "cordova-plugin-file": "^4.0.0",
    "cordova-plugin-inappbrowser": "^5.0.0",
    "cordova-plugin-ionic-keyboard": "^2.0.5",
    "cordova-plugin-ionic-webview": "^5.0.0",
    "cordova-plugin-media-capture-mp4video": "^1.0.5",
    "cordova-plugin-statusbar": "2.4.2",
    "cordova-plugin-telerik-imagepicker": "^2.3.3",
    "cordova-plugin-videoeditorsdk": "^3.1.0",
    "cordova-plugin-whitelist": "^1.3.5",
    "cordova-plugin-x-socialsharing": "^6.0.3",
    "cordova-plugin-x-toast": "^2.7.3",
    "cordova.plugins.diagnostic": "^6.1.0",
    "es6-promise-plugin": "^4.2.2",
    "jasmine-core": "~3.4.0",
    "jasmine-spec-reporter": "~4.2.1",
    "karma": "~4.1.0",
    "karma-chrome-launcher": "~2.2.0",
    "karma-coverage-istanbul-reporter": "~2.0.1",
    "karma-jasmine": "~2.0.1",
    "karma-jasmine-html-reporter": "^1.7.0",
    "protractor": "~5.4.0",
    "ts-node": "~7.0.0",
    "tslint": "~5.15.0",
    "typescript": "~3.5.3"
  },
  "keywords": [
    "ecosystem:cordova"
  ],
  "author": "Apache Cordova Team",
  "license": "Apache-2.0",
  "cordova": {
    "plugins": {
      "cordova-plugin-inappbrowser": {},
      "cordova-plugin-x-socialsharing": {
        "PHOTO_LIBRARY_ADD_USAGE_DESCRIPTION": "This app requires photo library access to function properly.",
        "PHOTO_LIBRARY_USAGE_DESCRIPTION": "This app requires photo library access to function properly."
      },
      "cordova-plugin-statusbar": {},
      "cordova-plugin-device": {},
      "cordova-plugin-ionic-webview": {},
      "cordova-plugin-ionic-keyboard": {},
      "cordova.plugins.diagnostic": {},
      "cordova-plugin-x-toast": {},
      "com-sarriaroman-photoviewer": {},
      "cordova-plugin-camera": {},
      "cordova-plugin-media-capture-mp4video": {},
      "cordova-plugin-file": {},
      "cordova-plugin-videoeditorsdk": {},
      "cordova-plugin-telerik-imagepicker": {
        "PHOTO_LIBRARY_USAGE_DESCRIPTION": "Allow user to select images from device"
      },
      "cordova-plugin-fcm-with-dependecy-updated": {
        "ANDROID_GRADLE_TOOLS_VERSION": "4.1.0",
        "ANDROID_GOOGLE_SERVICES_VERSION": "4.3.4",
        "ANDROID_DEFAULT_NOTIFICATION_ICON": "@mipmap/ic_launcher",
        "ANDROID_FCM_VERSION": "21.0.0",
        "ANDROID_FIREBASE_BOM_VERSION": "26.0.0",
        "IOS_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_VERSION": "~> 7.4.0"
      },
      "cordova-plugin-compat": {},
      "cordova-plugin-whitelist": {}
    },
    "platforms": [
      "ios",
      "android"
    ]
  }
}

config.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<widget id="uk.co.myfilter" version="1.5.6" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/widgets" xmlns:cdv="http://cordova.apache.org/ns/1.0">
    <name>My Filter</name>
    <description>MyFilter social media app for universities.</description>
    <author email="contact@myfilter.co.uk" href="https://myfilter.co.uk/">MyFilter Team</author>
    <content src="index.html" />
    <access origin="*" />
    <allow-intent href="http://*/*" />
    <allow-intent href="https://*/*" />
    <allow-intent href="tel:*" />
    <allow-intent href="sms:*" />
    <allow-intent href="mailto:*" />
    <allow-intent href="geo:*" />
    <allow-intent href="ionic://*" />
    <preference name="ScrollEnabled" value="false" />
    <preference name="BackupWebStorage" value="none" />
    <preference name="SplashMaintainAspectRatio" value="true" />
    <preference name="FadeSplashScreenDuration" value="300" />
    <preference name="SplashShowOnlyFirstTime" value="false" />
    <preference name="SplashScreen" value="screen" />
    <preference name="SplashScreenDelay" value="3000" />
    <preference name="StatusBarStyle" value="default" />
    <preference name="orientation" value="portrait" />
    <platform name="android">
        <preference name="AndroidPersistentFileLocation" value="Compatibility" />
        <preference name="android-minSdkVersion" value="30" />
        <preference name="android-targetSdkVersion" value="30" />
        <edit-config file="app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml" mode="merge" target="/manifest/application" xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
            <application android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true" />
        </edit-config>
        <config-file parent="/manifest/application" platform="android" target="AndroidManifest.xml">
            <activity android:label="@string/multi_app_name" android:name="com.synconset.MultiImageChooserActivity" android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light" />
        </config-file>
        <resource-file src="resources/android/xml/network_security_config.xml" target="app/src/main/res/xml/network_security_config.xml" />
        <allow-intent href="market:*" />
        <icon density="ldpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-ldpi-icon.png" />
        <icon density="mdpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-mdpi-icon.png" />
        <icon density="hdpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-hdpi-icon.png" />
        <icon density="xhdpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-xhdpi-icon.png" />
        <icon density="xxhdpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-xxhdpi-icon.png" />
        <icon density="xxxhdpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-xxxhdpi-icon.png" />
        <splash density="land-ldpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-ldpi-screen.png" />
        <splash density="land-mdpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-mdpi-screen.png" />
        <splash density="land-hdpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-hdpi-screen.png" />
        <splash density="land-xhdpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-xhdpi-screen.png" />
        <splash density="land-xxhdpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-xxhdpi-screen.png" />
        <splash density="land-xxxhdpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-xxxhdpi-screen.png" />
        <splash density="port-ldpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-ldpi-screen.png" />
        <splash density="port-mdpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-mdpi-screen.png" />
        <splash density="port-hdpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-hdpi-screen.png" />
        <splash density="port-xhdpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-xhdpi-screen.png" />
        <splash density="port-xxhdpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-xxhdpi-screen.png" />
        <splash density="port-xxxhdpi" src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-xxxhdpi-screen.png" />
    </platform>
    <platform name="ios">
        <preference name="HideKeyboardFormAccessoryBar" value="false" />
        <allow-intent href="itms:*" />
        <allow-intent href="itms-apps:*" />
        <preference name="BackupWebStorage" value="none" />
        <preference name="WKWebViewOnly" value="true" />
        <feature name="CDVWKWebViewEngine">
            <param name="ios-package" value="CDVWKWebViewEngine" />
        </feature>
        <preference name="CordovaWebViewEngine" value="CDVWKWebViewEngine" />
        <preference name="WKSuspendInBackground" value="false" />
        <preference name="AllowInlineMediaPlayback" value="true" />
        <icon height="57" src="resources/ios/icon/icon.png" width="57" />
        <icon height="114" src="resources/ios/icon/icon@2x.png" width="114" />
        <icon height="29" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-small.png" width="29" />
        <icon height="58" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-small@2x.png" width="58" />
        <icon height="87" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-small@3x.png" width="87" />
        <icon height="20" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-20.png" width="20" />
        <icon height="40" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-20@2x.png" width="40" />
        <icon height="60" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-20@3x.png" width="60" />
        <icon height="48" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-24@2x.png" width="48" />
        <icon height="55" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-27.5@2x.png" width="55" />
        <icon height="29" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-29.png" width="29" />
        <icon height="58" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-29@2x.png" width="58" />
        <icon height="87" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-29@3x.png" width="87" />
        <icon height="40" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-40.png" width="40" />
        <icon height="80" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-40@2x.png" width="80" />
        <icon height="120" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-40@3x.png" width="120" />
        <icon height="88" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-44@2x.png" width="88" />
        <icon height="50" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-50.png" width="50" />
        <icon height="100" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-50@2x.png" width="100" />
        <icon height="60" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-60.png" width="60" />
        <icon height="120" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-60@2x.png" width="120" />
        <icon height="180" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-60@3x.png" width="180" />
        <icon height="72" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-72.png" width="72" />
        <icon height="144" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-72@2x.png" width="144" />
        <icon height="76" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-76.png" width="76" />
        <icon height="152" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-76@2x.png" width="152" />
        <icon height="167" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-83.5@2x.png" width="167" />
        <icon height="172" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-86@2x.png" width="172" />
        <icon height="196" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-98@2x.png" width="196" />
        <icon height="1024" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-1024.png" width="1024" />
        <splash height="480" src="resources/ios/splash/Default~iphone.png" width="320" />
        <splash height="960" src="resources/ios/splash/Default@2x~iphone.png" width="640" />
        <splash height="1024" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-Portrait~ipad.png" width="768" />
        <splash height="768" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-Landscape~ipad.png" width="1024" />
        <splash height="1125" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-Landscape-2436h.png" width="2436" />
        <splash height="1242" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-Landscape-736h.png" width="2208" />
        <splash height="2048" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-Portrait@2x~ipad.png" width="1536" />
        <splash height="1536" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-Landscape@2x~ipad.png" width="2048" />
        <splash height="2732" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-Portrait@~ipadpro.png" width="2048" />
        <splash height="2048" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-Landscape@~ipadpro.png" width="2732" />
        <splash height="1136" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-568h@2x~iphone.png" width="640" />
        <splash height="1334" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-667h.png" width="750" />
        <splash height="2208" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-736h.png" width="1242" />
        <splash height="2436" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-2436h.png" width="1125" />
        <splash height="2732" src="resources/ios/splash/Default@2x~universal~anyany.png" width="2732" />
        <icon height="216" src="resources/ios/icon/icon-108@2x.png" width="216" />
        <splash height="2688" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-2688h~iphone.png" width="1242" />
        <splash height="1242" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-Landscape-2688h~iphone.png" width="2688" />
        <splash height="1792" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-1792h~iphone.png" width="828" />
        <splash height="828" src="resources/ios/splash/Default-Landscape-1792h~iphone.png" width="1792" />
    </platform>
    <plugin name="cordova-plugin-statusbar" spec="2.4.2" />
    <plugin name="cordova-plugin-device" spec="2.0.2" />
    <plugin name="cordova-plugin-ionic-webview" spec="^4.0.0" />
    <plugin name="cordova-plugin-ionic-keyboard" spec="^2.0.5" />
    <allow-navigation href="*" />
</widget>

[breautek]

Task :app:mergeReleaseResources FAILED

Generally this means it couldn't bundle a resource file for some reason. It could be that something is referencing a resource that doesn't exists. It could be one of your resources have malformed XML. A resource could be anything from strings to physical files. For example, in your config you're manually adding something reference a string resource @string/multi_app_name and if that resource is not actually defined, you may receive the error you're experiencing.

I'm confident that the issue isn't caused by cordova-android. cordova-android@10 only has basic resources for the icon, and cordova-plugin-splashscreen handles the resources for splashscreens. Cordova will prepare the android project correctly. However, frameworks and plugins have the opportunity to modify, and potentially overwrite files, in which case if they do and remove things that Cordova has configured, or overwrite them in relating to resource files, it may trigger this issue.

Unfortuantely, AAPT (the android tools that handles this) doesn't make clear what the actual problem is, therefore I cannot pinpoint the exact issue, I can say it's likely caused by a plugin overwriting something that isn't suppose to, or it's caused by:

<config-file parent="/manifest/application" platform="android" target="AndroidManifest.xml">
            <activity android:label="@string/multi_app_name" android:name="com.synconset.MultiImageChooserActivity" android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light" />
</config-file>

Where nothing actually defines @string/multi_app_name.

I advise you to check the native project. I'm not sure where ionic places things but a cordova project will place the native project at platforms/android. The resources would be located at platforms/android/app/src/main/res which will contain a series of folders.

By convention, things like @string/multi_app_name should be defined inside one of the XML files inside values/

For example, Cordova will create values/strings.xml and define @string/app_name resource via:

<string name="app_name">Your App Name</string>

Let me know if any of this information helps.

[breautek]

Closing: No response