How can I move the AndroidManifest.xml file with the experimental gradle plugin 0.7.x? - gradle-experimental

Question

I'm trying to change the location of the AndroidManifest.xml file when using the experimental gradle plugin version 0.7.x. The reason for doing this is that I generate the file (as there is no manifest merger/property replacer in the experimental plugin) so I don't want an output file together with the sources.
My app build.gradle:
apply plugin: "com.android.model.application"
def buildDir = project.buildDir
model {
android {
compileSdkVersion 23
buildToolsVersion "23.0.1"
defaultConfig {
applicationId "com.myapp.android"
minSdkVersion.apiLevel 9
targetSdkVersion.apiLevel 23
versionCode 1
versionName "1.0"
}
sources {
main {
manifest {
source {
srcDirs = ["$buildDir"]
}
}
}
}
}
}
task createManifest {
doLast {
buildDir.mkdirs()
new FileOutputStream(new File(buildDir, "AndroidManifest.xml"))
}
}
tasks.all { task ->
if (task.name.startsWith('check') && task.name.endsWith('Manifest')) {
task.dependsOn createManifest
}
}
The above configures fine but when I try to build I get:
A problem was found with the configuration of task ':app:checkDebugManifest'.
> File '/home/the_jk/source/test/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml' specified for property 'manifest' does not exist.`
I cannot seem to change the default manifest "property" at all, anyone had any luck?

Answer 1

Try
manifest { source { srcDirs = $buildDir } }
This seems to do ok with just 1 manifest, but the experimental plugin barfs if you give it 2 directories that you want to merge.
(I'm also guessing you have some other task to generate the manifest in the $buildDir since that gets blown away by clean tasks....)
Update:
Secondary issue, the check[Deubg|Release]Manifest task wants the file to exist when it runs. The above works ok for me for a static file. For something generated from a task in the build directory I had to add a dependency that looks like
task createManifest {
// code to create $buildDir if it did not exist
// code to generate AndrdroidManfest.xml in $buildDir
}
tasks.all {
task ->
if (task.name.startsWith('check') && task.name.endsWith('Manifest')) {
task.dependsOn createManifest
}
}
The tasks.all loop lets me only add it if checkDebugManifest and/or checkReleaseManifest tasks are going to happen (I had trouble with ./gradlew clean not finding the checkDebugManifest task without it.)

Answer 2

I had a similar issue with com.android.tools.build:gradle-experimental:0.7.0-alpha4. The way I solve it was with the following code:
sources {
main {
manifest {
source {
srcDirs = [ "$buildDir" ]
}
}
}
}