`flutter run` fails on Android on Windows when installed in a path with non-ascii symbol

[eseidel]

I suspect this is an underlying gradle issue rather than Flutter, but I failed to find a meta bug for this issue for flutter_tools so filing one.

The root cause is that spaces an (in this case) non-ascii chars are almost always broken in tools (especially on windows) if they aren't covered in e2e testing, not due to the fault of the devs, rather that the fundamental building blocks of path handling are just broken on all systems, and so it's really hard to get all path handling correct.

In this case, non-ascii characters seem broken for at least android/gradle on windows, but possibly also other flutter commands.

To repro:

I tested locally by taking a stock flutter (not shorebird) copying it (to flutter2) and then renaming flutter2 to test_flutter木 (via explorer) and I also get failures from gradle when trying to run flutter out of test_flutter木

Even powershell seems confused by the 木.

This is the log from running a test within powershell within visual studio code:

PS C:\Users\micro> .\test_flutter?\bin\flutter create foo
Creating project foo...
Resolving dependencies in `foo`...
Downloading packages...
Got dependencies in `foo`.
Wrote 129 files.
You can find general documentation for Flutter at: https://docs.flutter.dev/
Detailed API documentation is available at: https://api.flutter.dev/
If you prefer video documentation, consider: https://www.youtube.com/c/flutterdev

In order to run your application, type:

  $ cd foo
  $ flutter run

Your application code is in foo\lib\main.dart.

PS C:\Users\micro> cd .\foo\
PS C:\Users\micro\foo> ..\test_flutter?\bin\flutter run
Launching lib\main.dart on sdk gphone x86 64 in debug mode...

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* Where:
Settings file 'C:\Users\micro\foo\android\settings.gradle' line: 20

* What went wrong:
Error resolving plugin [id: 'dev.flutter.flutter-plugin-loader', version: '1.0.0']
> Included build 'C:\Users\micro\test_flutter�?�\packages\flutter_tools\gradle' does not exist.

* 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

BUILD FAILED in 13s
Running Gradle task 'assembleDebug'...                             15.1s
Error: Gradle task assembleDebug failed with exit code 1

shorebirdtech/shorebird#2140 is where this came in for Shorebird. https://github.com/shorebirdtech/shorebird/pull/2159/files is where we added a non-ascii char to our e2e tests for Shorebird, which passed everywhere but windows.

[eseidel]

Looks like gradle used to even have a check for this?
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32171968/your-project-path-contains-non-ascii-characters-android-studio

[eseidel]

Looks like gradle might be finally trying to fix this! gradle/gradle#25261

[huycozy]

This reminds me an issue I triaged recently at #149162 but it's for Windows app.

I also checked this issue for Android app on Windows. Firstly I saw an error below:

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* Where:
Build file 'C:\Users\ADMIN\Desktop\�a\demo\android\app\build.gradle' line: 2

* What went wrong:
An exception occurred applying plugin request [id: 'com.android.application']
> Failed to apply plugin 'com.android.internal.application'.
   > Your project path contains non-ASCII characters. This will most likely cause the build to fail on Windows. Please move your project to a different directory. See http://b.android.com/95744 for details. This warning can be disabled by adding the line 'android.overridePathCheck=true' to gradle.properties file in the project directory.

This is similar to the error on SO link you shared above. After following the hint from the error message by adding 'android.overridePathCheck=true to gradle.properties file, I ran the project again and saw another error (this error is similar to issue at #149162):

Launching lib\main.dart on Pixel 7 in debug mode...
Could not write file to C:\Users\ADMIN\Desktop\ña\demo\build\app\intermediates\flutter\debug\flutter_assets\shaders/ink_sparkle.frag

Target debug_android_application failed: ShaderCompilerException: Shader compilation of "C:\WIP\flutter\packages\flutter\lib\src\material\shaders\ink_sparkle.frag" to "C:\Users\ADMIN\Desktop\ña\demo\build\app\intermediates\flutter\debug\flutter_assets\shaders/ink_sparkle.frag" failed with exit code 1.
impellerc stdout:

impellerc stderr:
Could not write file to C:\Users\ADMIN\Desktop\ña\demo\build\app\intermediates\flutter\debug\flutter_assets\shaders/ink_sparkle.frag

When I tried creating a new Android native app though Android Studio, on a path contains non-ASCII characters, it prevented from creating a new project with an error: Your project location contains non-ASCII characters..

I think we can also do the same since creating a new Flutter project. However, I will label this for other's input.

flutter doctor -v (stable & master)

[√] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.22.1, on Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.4412], locale en-US)
    • Flutter version 3.22.1 on channel stable at C:\WIP\flutter
    • Upstream repository https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
    • Framework revision a14f74ff3a (6 days ago), 2024-05-22 11:08:21 -0500
    • Engine revision 55eae6864b
    • Dart version 3.4.1
    • DevTools version 2.34.3

[√] Windows Version (Installed version of Windows is version 10 or higher)

[√] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 34.0.0)
    • Android SDK at C:\AndroidSDK
    • Platform android-34, build-tools 34.0.0
    • Java binary at: C:\Program Files\Android\Android Studio Hedgehog\jbr\bin\java
    • Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.7+0-b2043.56-10550314)
    • All Android licenses accepted.

[√] Chrome - develop for the web
    • Chrome at C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe

[√] Visual Studio - develop Windows apps (Visual Studio Community 2022 17.4.4)
    • Visual Studio at D:\DOWNLOADWORK\VS2022
    • Visual Studio Community 2022 version 17.4.33213.308
    • Windows 10 SDK version 10.0.19041.0

[√] Android Studio (version 2022.3)
    • Android Studio at C:\Program Files\Android\Android StudioGiraffe
    • Flutter plugin can be installed from:
       https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9212-flutter
    • Dart plugin can be installed from:
       https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/6351-dart
    • Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.6+0-b2043.56-10027231)

[√] Android Studio (version 2023.1)
    • Android Studio at C:\Program Files\Android\Android Studio Hedgehog
    • Flutter plugin can be installed from:
       https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9212-flutter
    • Dart plugin can be installed from:
       https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/6351-dart
    • Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.7+0-b2043.56-10550314)

[√] VS Code (version 1.89.1)
    • VS Code at C:\Users\ADMIN\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code
    • Flutter extension version 3.88.0

[√] Connected device (3 available)
    • Windows (desktop) • windows • windows-x64    • Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.4412]
    • Chrome (web)      • chrome  • web-javascript • Google Chrome 125.0.6422.77
    • Edge (web)        • edge    • web-javascript • Microsoft Edge 124.0.2478.67

[√] Network resources
    • All expected network resources are available.

• No issues found!

[!] Flutter (Channel master, 3.23.0-9.0.pre.3, on Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.4412], locale en-US)
    • Flutter version 3.23.0-9.0.pre.3 on channel master at C:\WIP\flutter_master
    ! Warning: `flutter` on your path resolves to C:\WIP\flutter\bin\flutter, which is not inside your current Flutter SDK checkout at C:\WIP\flutter_master.
      Consider adding C:\WIP\flutter_master\bin to the front of your path.
    ! Warning: `dart` on your path resolves to C:\WIP\flutter\bin\dart, which is not inside your current Flutter SDK checkout at C:\WIP\flutter_master.
      Consider adding C:\WIP\flutter_master\bin to the front of your path.
    • Upstream repository https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
    • Framework revision a1a33e63b9 (in the future), 2024-05-28 03:56:25 -0400
    • Engine revision b1751088c7
    • Dart version 3.5.0 (build 3.5.0-191.0.dev)
    • DevTools version 2.36.0-dev.10
    • If those were intentional, you can disregard the above warnings; however it is recommended to use "git" directly to perform update checks and upgrades.

[√] Windows Version (Installed version of Windows is version 10 or higher)

[√] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 34.0.0)
    • Android SDK at C:\AndroidSDK
    • Platform android-34, build-tools 34.0.0
    • Java binary at: C:\Program Files\Android\Android Studio Hedgehog\jbr\bin\java
    • Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.7+0-b2043.56-10550314)
    • All Android licenses accepted.

[√] Chrome - develop for the web
    • Chrome at C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe

[√] Visual Studio - develop Windows apps (Visual Studio Community 2022 17.4.4)
    • Visual Studio at D:\DOWNLOADWORK\VS2022
    • Visual Studio Community 2022 version 17.4.33213.308
    • Windows 10 SDK version 10.0.19041.0

[√] Android Studio (version 2022.3)
    • Android Studio at C:\Program Files\Android\Android StudioGiraffe
    • Flutter plugin can be installed from:
       https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9212-flutter
    • Dart plugin can be installed from:
       https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/6351-dart
    • Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.6+0-b2043.56-10027231)

[√] Android Studio (version 2023.1)
    • Android Studio at C:\Program Files\Android\Android Studio Hedgehog
    • Flutter plugin can be installed from:
       https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9212-flutter
    • Dart plugin can be installed from:
       https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/6351-dart
    • Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.7+0-b2043.56-10550314)

[√] VS Code (version 1.89.1)
    • VS Code at C:\Users\ADMIN\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code
    • Flutter extension version 3.88.0

[√] Connected device (3 available)
    • Windows (desktop) • windows • windows-x64    • Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.4412]
    • Chrome (web)      • chrome  • web-javascript • Google Chrome 125.0.6422.77
    • Edge (web)        • edge    • web-javascript • Microsoft Edge 124.0.2478.67

[√] Network resources
    • All expected network resources are available.

! Doctor found issues in 1 category.