# Attribute based matching in dependency resolution

This chapter is primarily aimed towards plugin authors who want to understand better how to leverage the capabilities of the dependency resolution engine to support variant-aware dependency management. Users who simply want to understand what configuration attributes are will also find support here.

## Different kinds of configurations

Historically, configurations have been at the root of dependency resolution in Gradle. In the end, what we want to make a difference is between a consumer and a producer. For this purpose, configurations are used for at least 3 different aspects:

1. to declare dependencies

2. as a consumer, to resolve a set of dependencies to files

3. as a producer, to expose artifacts for consumption by other projects

For example, if I want to express that my application `app` depends on library `lib`, we need at least one configuration:

Example 1. Configurations are used to declare dependencies
build.gradle

    configurations {
        // declare a "configuration" named "someConfiguration"
        someConfiguration
    }
    dependencies {
        // add a project dependency to the "someConfiguration" configuration
        someConfiguration project(":lib")
    }

build.gradle.kts

    // declare a "configuration" named "someConfiguration"
    val someConfiguration by configurations.creating

    dependencies {
        // add a project dependency to the "someConfiguration" configuration
        someConfiguration(project(":lib"))
    }

Configurations can extend other configuration, in order to inherit their dependencies. However, the code above doesn’t tell anything about the consumer. In particular, it doesn’t tell what is the use of the configuration. Let’s say that `lib` is a Java library: it can expose different things, such as its API, implementation or test fixtures. If we want to resolve the dependencies of `app`, we need to know what kind of task we’re performing (compiling against the API of `lib`, executing the application, compiling tests, …​). For this purpose, you’ll often find companion configurations, which are meant to unambiguously declare the usage:

Example 2. Configurations representing concrete dependency graphs
build.gradle

    configurations {
        // declare a configuration that is going to resolve the compile classpath of the application
        compileClasspath.extendsFrom(someConfiguration)

        // declare a configuration that is going to resolve the runtime classpath of the application
        runtimeClasspath.extendsFrom(someConfiguration)
    }

build.gradle.kts

    configurations {
        // declare a configuration that is going to resolve the compile classpath of the application
        compileClasspath.extendsFrom(someConfiguration)

        // declare a configuration that is going to resolve the runtime classpath of the application
        runtimeClasspath.extendsFrom(someConfiguration)
    }

At this stage, we have 3 different configurations, which already have different goals:

- `someConfiguration` declares the dependencies of my application. It’s just a bucket where we declare a list of dependencies.

- `compileClasspath` and `runtimeClasspath` are configurations meant to be resolved: when resolved they should contain respectively the compile classpath, and the runtime classpath of the application.

This is actually represented on the `Configuration` type by the `canBeResolved` flag. A configuration that can be resolved is a configuration for which we can compute a dependency graph, because it contains all the necessary information for resolution to happen. That is to say we’re going to compute a dependency graph, resolve the components in the graph, and eventually get artifacts. A configuration which has `canBeResolved` set to `false` is not meant to be resolved. Such a configuration is there only to declare dependencies. The reason is that depending on the usage (compile classpath, runtime classpath), it can resolve to different graphs. It is an error to try to resolve a configuration which has `canBeResolved` set to `false`. To some extent, this is similar to an abstract class (`canBeResolved`=false) which is not supposed to be instantiated, and a concrete class extending the abstract class (`canBeResolved`=true). A resolvable configuration will extend at least one non resolvable configuration (and may extend more than one).

On the other end, at the library project side (the producer), we also use configurations to represent what can be consumed. For example, the library may expose an API or a runtime, and we would attach artifacts to either one, the other, or both. Typically, to compile against `lib`, we need the API of `lib`, but we don’t need its runtime dependencies. So the `lib` project will expose an `apiElements` configuration, which is aimed for consumers looking for its API. Such a configuration is going to be consumable, but is not meant to be resolved. This is expressed via the canBeConsumed flag of a `Configuration`:

Example 3. Setting up configurations
build.gradle

    configurations {
        // A configuration meant for consumers that need the API of this component
        exposedApi {
            // This configuration is an "outgoing" configuration, it's not meant to be resolved
            canBeResolved = false
            // As an outgoing configuration, explain that consumers may want to consume it
            canBeConsumed = true
        }
        // A configuration meant for consumers that need the implementation of this component
        exposedRuntime {
            canBeResolved = false
            canBeConsumed = true
        }
    }

build.gradle.kts

    configurations {
        // A configuration meant for consumers that need the API of this component
        create("exposedApi") {
            // This configuration is an "outgoing" configuration, it's not meant to be resolved
            isCanBeResolved = false
            // As an outgoing configuration, explain that consumers may want to consume it
            isCanBeConsumed = true
        }
        // A configuration meant for consumers that need the implementation of this component
        create("exposedRuntime") {
            isCanBeResolved = false
            isCanBeConsumed = true
        }
    }

In short, a configuration role is determined by the `canBeResolved` and `canBeConsumed` flag combinations:

Table 1. Configuration roles
Configuration role | can be resolved | can be consumed
Bucket of dependencies | false | false
Resolve for certain usage | true | false
Exposed to consumers | false | true
Legacy, don’t use | true | true

For backwards compatibility, those flags have both `true` as the default value, but as a plugin author, you should always determine the right values for those flags, or you might accidentally introduce resolution errors.

## Configuration attributes

We have explained that we have 3 configuration roles, and explained that we may want to resolve the compile and runtime classpath differently, but there’s nothing in what we’ve written which allows explaining the difference. This is where attributes come into play. The role of attributes is to perform the selection of the right variant of a component. In our example, the `lib` library exposes 2 variants: its API (via `exposedApi`) and its runtime (via `exposedRuntime`). There’s no restriction on the number of variants a component can expose. We may, for example, want to expose the test fixtures of a component too. But then, the consumer needs to explain what configuration to consume, and this is done by setting attributes on both the consumer and producer ends.

Attributes consist of a name and a value pair. Gradle comes with a standard attribute named `org.gradle.usage` specifically to deal with the concept of selecting the right variant of a component based on the usage of the consumer (compile, runtime …​). It is however possible to define an arbitrary number of attributes. As a producer, I can express that a consumable configuration represents the API of a component by attaching the `(org.gradle.usage,JAVA_API)` attribute to the configuration. As a consumer, I can express that I need the API of the dependencies of a resolvable configuration by attaching the `(org.gradle.usage,JAVA_API)` attribute to it. Now Gradle has a way to automatically select the appropriate variant by looking at the configuration attributes: - the consumer wants `org.gradle.usage=JAVA_API` - the dependent project exposes 2 different variants. One with `org.gradle.usage=JAVA_API`, the other with `org.gradle.usage=JAVA_RUNTIME`. - Gradle selects the `org.gradle.usage=JAVA_API` variant

In other words: attributes are used to perform the selection based on the values of the attributes. It doesn’t matter what the names of the configurations are: only the attributes matter.

## Declaring attributes

Attributes are typed. An attribute can be created via the `Attribute<T>.of` method:

Example 4. Define attributes
build.gradle

    // An attribute of type `String`
    def myAttribute = Attribute.of("my.attribute.name", String)
    // An attribute of type `Usage`
    def myUsage = Attribute.of("my.usage.attribute", Usage)

build.gradle.kts

    // An attribute of type `String`
    val myAttribute = Attribute.of("my.attribute.name", String::class.java)
    // An attribute of type `Usage`
    val myUsage = Attribute.of("my.usage.attribute", Usage::class.java)

Currently, only attribute types of `String`, or anything extending `Named` is supported. Attributes must be declared in the attribute schema found on the `dependencies` handler:

Example 5. Registering attributes on the attributes schema
build.gradle

    dependencies.attributesSchema {
        // registers this attribute to the attributes schema
        attribute(myAttribute)
        attribute(myUsage)
    }

build.gradle.kts

    dependencies.attributesSchema {
        // registers this attribute to the attributes schema
        attribute(myAttribute)
        attribute(myUsage)
    }

Then configurations can be configured to set values for attributes:

Example 6. Setting attributes on configurations
build.gradle

    configurations {
        myConfiguration {
            attributes {
                attribute(myAttribute, 'my-value')
            }
        }
    }

build.gradle.kts

    configurations {
        create("myConfiguration") {
            attributes {
                attribute(myAttribute, "my-value")
            }
        }
    }

For attributes which type extends `Named`, the value of the attribute must be created via the object factory:

Example 7. Named attributes
build.gradle

    configurations {
        myConfiguration {
            attributes {
                attribute(myUsage, project.objects.named(Usage, 'my-value'))
            }
        }
    }

build.gradle.kts

    configurations {
        "myConfiguration" {
            attributes {
                attribute(myUsage, project.objects.named(Usage::class.java, "my-value"))
            }
        }
    }

## Attribute compatibility rules

Attributes let the engine select compatible variants. However, there are cases where a provider may not have exactly what the consumer wants, but still something that it can use. For example, if the consumer is asking for the API of a library, there’s a possibility that the producer doesn’t have such a variant, but only a runtime variant. This is typical of libraries published on external repositories. In this case, we know that even if we don’t have an exact match (API), we can still compile against the runtime variant (it contains more than what we need to compile but it’s still ok to use). To deal with this, Gradle provides attribute compatibility rules. The role of a compatibility rule is to explain what variants are compatible with what the consumer asked for.

Attribute compatibility rules have to be registered via the attribute matching strategy that you can obtain from the attributes schema.

## Attribute disambiguation rules

Because multiple values for an attribute can be compatible with the requested attribute, Gradle needs to choose between the candidates. This is done by implementing an attribute disambiguation rule.

Attribute disambiguation rules have to be registered via the attribute matching strategy that you can obtain from the attributes schema.