Third-party plugins cannot be applied by ID from external build scripts

[bmuschko]

Original issue: https://issues.gradle.org/browse/GRADLE-2136

Expected Behavior

An external plugin can be applied in a script plugin by ID. The plugin can be added to the build script's classpath and applied with the plugins DSL or the buildscript block.

Current Behavior

An external plugin can only be applied in a script plugin by type. If applied in a script plugin an exception is thrown saying that the plugin cannot be found.

* What went wrong:
A problem occurred evaluating script.
> Plugin with id 'com.bmuschko.tomcat' not found.

Context

This is an unnecessary limitation of Gradle's plugin system. Users run into the issue all the time. The limitation is not documented.

Steps to Reproduce (for bugs)

build.gradle:

apply from: 'script.gradle'

script.gradle:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
    }

    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.bmuschko:gradle-tomcat-plugin:2.2.5'
    }
}

apply plugin: 'com.bmuschko.tomcat'

Another manifestation:

//build.gradle
buildscript {
  repositories { ... }
  dependencies {
    classpath "org._10ne.gradle:rest-gradle-plugin:0.4.2" //any external plugin can be used
  }
}

apply plugin: "org.tenne.rest"

task fromMain(type: org._10ne.gradle.rest.RestTask) { //works fine
  //...
}

apply from: 'gradle/other.gradle'

//other.gradle
task fromOther(type: org._10ne.gradle.rest.RestTask) { //fails
  //...
}

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* Where:
Script '/tmp/plugin-class-other-script/gradle/other.gradle' line: 1

* What went wrong:
A problem occurred evaluating script.
> Could not get unknown property 'org' for root project 'plugin-class-other-script' of type org.gradle.api.Project.

[ghale]

Big +1 to this. Another (related) place where this is an issue is init scripts.

[pioterj]

I think that rather than fixing this issue we should address remaining gaps and un-incubate new plugin DSL. As a part of that we should allow the plugins block in all script types including script plugins.

[bmuschko]

@pioterj That would be another option. The buildscript is just one example. The same is true for the plugin DSL. We'd also need to lift some additional limitation the plugin DSL still has e.g. the ability to be applied in subprojects or allprojects - a common use case how script plugins are applied.

[pioterj]

We'd also need to lift some additional limitation the plugin DSL still has

Yes, that's what I meant by addressing the remaining gaps.

e.g. the ability to be applied in subprojects or allprojects

This is already available.

[BrainStone]

Having this fixed would be highly appreciated!

[szpak]

Probably the same root cause as #1894 (Unable to refer classes from extenal plugins in other *.gradle files).

[bzon]

Is there any update for this? I'm trying to use the OWASP dependency check plugin in an external gradle script because we have hundreds of repositories and we don't want to include it in all the build.gradle files in each repo.

This is the plugin - https://github.com/jeremylong/dependency-check-gradle

I'm getting this when the following is added to an external gradle script.

external-script.gradle:

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
    }

    dependencies {
        classpath "org.owasp:dependency-check-gradle:2.1.1"
    }
}

allprojects {
    apply plugin: 'org.owasp.dependencycheck'
}

Error:

* What went wrong:
A problem occurred evaluating script.
> Plugin with id 'org.owasp.dependencycheck' not found.