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spotbugs configuration in gradle build not working correctly (full build throws error while individual subproject runs without any output for spotbugs

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I have been trying to run spotbugs plugin on my projects using a global build.gradle setup. The plugin is added and seems that build is running. Build and spotbugsMain both are successful when I run them using

./gradlew :com.myproject.something:build --stacktrace

./gradlew :com.myproject.something:spotbugsMain --stracktrace

But if I understand it correctly, it should generate a report (in spotbugs folder?) under build-gradle folder.

I do not see anything generated. spotbugs folder itself is not showing up.

Here is my build.gradle. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong? I am not sure I understand concepts of gradle completely but I have tried to use other references.

Minimal working SpotBugs setup for Android Studio

 plugins {
        id "com.github.spotbugs" version "4.7.2" apply false
    group = 'com.myproject'
    subprojects {
        apply plugin: 'java-library'
        apply plugin: 'maven-publish'
        apply plugin: 'com.github.spotbugs'
        buildDir = 'build-gradle'
        spotbugs {
          toolVersion = '4.3.0'
          ignoreFailures = false
          showStackTraces = true
          showProgress = true
          effort = 'max'
          reportLevel = 'high'
          maxHeapSize = '1g'
          reportsDir = file("$buildDir/spotbugs")
        tasks.withType(com.github.spotbugs.snom.SpotBugsTask) {
                group 'Verification'
                description 'Run Spotbugs on this project.'
                dependsOn 'assemble'
              reports {
                    xml.enabled = false
                    html.enabled = true
                classDirs = files('$buildDir.absolutePath/build-gradle/classes/java/main')
                sourceDirs = files('$buildDir.absolutePath/src/main/java')
        repositories {
            // the order here is important. Repositories are queried in the exact order specified here
            mavenLocal()
            mavenCentral()
            maven {
                url = uri('http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/snapshots')
                allowInsecureProtocol = true
            maven {
                url = uri('http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/releases')
                allowInsecureProtocol = true
            maven {
                url = uri('http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/myproject')
                allowInsecureProtocol = true
            maven {
                url = uri('http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/thirdparty')
                allowInsecureProtocol = true
        publishing {
            publications {
                maven(MavenPublication) {
                    from(components.java)
        test {
            filter {
                excludeTestsMatching "*IT"
                environment 'RESOURCES_PATH', 'build-gradle/resources/test'
        tasks.withType(JavaCompile) {
            options.encoding = 'UTF-8'
UPDATE : 07/26/2021
I tried to run full build including all the subprojects instead of individual subproject as mentioned above. I used command
./gradlew clean build --stacktrace
This time, it did not work! The full build is throwing an error as below.
Task :com.vmturbo.mediation.applicationserver.jboss:compileJava FAILED
FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.
* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':com.myproject.something:compileJava'.
Could not resolve all files for configuration ':com.myproject.something:compileClasspath'.
   Could not find com.github.spotbugs:spotbugs-annotations:4.7.2.
     Searched in the following locations:
       - file:/Users/myuser/.m2/repository/com/github/spotbugs/spotbugs-annotations/4.7.2/spotbugs-annotations-4.7.2.pom
       - https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/com/github/spotbugs/spotbugs-annotations/4.7.2/spotbugs-annotations-4.7.2.pom
       - http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/snapshots/com/github/spotbugs/spotbugs-annotations/4.7.2/spotbugs-annotations-4.7.2.pom
       - http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/releases/com/github/spotbugs/spotbugs-annotations/4.7.2/spotbugs-annotations-4.7.2.pom
       - http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/myproject/com/github/spotbugs/spotbugs-annotations/4.7.2/spotbugs-annotations-4.7.2.pom
       - http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/thirdparty/com/github/spotbugs/spotbugs-annotations/4.7.2/spotbugs-annotations-4.7.2.pom
     Required by:
         project :com.myproject.something
Any idea about the problem? It seems full build does not work with above error and if I try to build only 1 subproject com.myproject.something then it runs fine but does not generate anything related to spotbugs.
                I checked it. There is no build folder. I am assuming it should be under build-gradle directory because buildDir variable specifies it in the script.
– hariom
                Jul 21, 2021 at 18:42
                Even if I do not redefine it, it creates a "build" folder under com.myproject.something and then under that there is still no spotbugs folder with reports of spot bugs. its almost as if spotbugs is not running.   if I check tasks of gradle build,  ./gradlew com.myproject.something:tasks then i do see spotbugsMain and spotbugsTask there.
– hariom
                Jul 23, 2021 at 15:08
I found the problem. I am not entirely sure why though. This thread helped.
https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs/issues/1027
In my build.gradle I was using this block ->
tasks.withType(com.github.spotbugs.snom.SpotBugsTask) {
        group 'Verification'
        description 'Run Spotbugs on this project.'
        dependsOn 'assemble'
        reports {
           xml.enabled = false
           html.enabled = true
        classDirs = files('$buildDir.absolutePath/build-gradle/classes/java/main')
        sourceDirs = files('$buildDir.absolutePath/src/main/java')
But instead when I changed that to this, all seemed to work and spotbugs folder and under it, report got generated. Apparently, I did not need to provide class and source folders at all.
spotbugsMain {
    reports {
        xml.enabled = false
        html.enabled = true
spotbugsTest {
    reports {
        xml.enabled = false
        html.enabled = true
FINAL build.gradle file
plugins {
    id "com.github.spotbugs" version "4.7.2" apply false
group = 'com.myproject'
subprojects {
    apply plugin: 'java-library'
    apply plugin: 'maven-publish'
    apply plugin: 'com.github.spotbugs'
    buildDir = 'build-gradle'
    spotbugs {
      toolVersion = '4.3.0'
      ignoreFailures = false
      showStackTraces = true
      showProgress = true
      effort = 'max'
      reportLevel = 'high'
      maxHeapSize = '1g'
      reportsDir = file("$buildDir/spotbugs")
    spotbugsMain {
        reports {
            xml.enabled = false
            html.enabled = true
    spotbugsTest {
        reports {
            xml.enabled = false
            html.enabled = true
    repositories {
        // the order here is important. Repositories are queried in the exact order specified here
        mavenLocal()
        mavenCentral()
        maven {
            url = uri('http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/snapshots')
            allowInsecureProtocol = true
        maven {
            url = uri('http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/releases')
            allowInsecureProtocol = true
        maven {
            url = uri('http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/myproject')
            allowInsecureProtocol = true
        maven {
            url = uri('http://build.myproject.com:8081/nexus/content/repositories/thirdparty')
            allowInsecureProtocol = true
    publishing {
        publications {
            maven(MavenPublication) {
                from(components.java)
    test {
        filter {
            excludeTestsMatching "*IT"
            environment 'RESOURCES_PATH', 'build-gradle/resources/test'
    tasks.withType(JavaCompile) {
        options.encoding = 'UTF-8'
Ran these commands and they succeeded - meaning that I got spotbugs errors in code and build failed! which is what I was looking for!
./gradlew check and ./gradlew clean build --stacktrace
7 SpotBugs violations were found. See the report at: file:///Users/myuser/com.myproject.something/build-gradle/spotbugs/test.html
You can refer to this answer:
Minimal working SpotBugs setup for Android Studio.
Following which I let my android project run successfully and got the spotbugs check report. The report will be generated in path of {module_name}/build/spotbugsReports/main.html. The running command can be ./gradlew build or ./gradlew spotbugsMain.
In build.gradle of app module:
apply plugin: 'com.github.spotbugs' // <- Add this
spotbugs {
    toolVersion = "3.1.3"
    ignoreFailures = false
    showProgress = true
    reportsDir = file("$project.buildDir/spotbugsReports")
    effort = "max"
    reportLevel = "high"
tasks.withType(com.github.spotbugs.SpotBugsTask) {
    group 'Verification'
    description 'Run Spotbugs on this project.'
    // You'll also need to enable the HTML report and disable XML report, to see a human-readable format.
    reports {
        xml.enabled = false
        html.enabled = true
    dependsOn 'assemble'
    classes = files("$projectDir.absolutePath/build/intermediates/javac")
    source = fileTree('src/main/java') // Only needed on gradle 4/5
// This block is only needed for gradle 4/5 only.
// It's for SpotBugs to create a 'spotbugsMain' gradle task.
sourceSets {
    main {
        java.srcDirs = []
android {
dependencies {
In build.gradle of root project:
buildscript {
    repositories {
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.2.1'
        classpath 'gradle.plugin.com.github.spotbugs:spotbugs-gradle-plugin:1.6.6'
allprojects {
    repositories {
The Gradle Wrapper Version of my project is gradle-4.10.1-all.zip. Pay attention that when you'are using Gradle v4 - lastest Spotbugs version you could use only 1.6.6. Ref: https://gist.github.com/mik9/fdde79052fef7f03c4325734701a39d7
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