Gradle is an open source build automation system. It has a Java plugin to allow building Java applications and running tests for them.

In this tutorial you will explore the different tasks available in Gradle.

Prerequisite:

Having a basic background in Java programming is required to do this tutorial.

Install Gradle

1. Go to Gradle's download page. Download the latest version. The Binary only distribution is sufficient.

2. Extract Gradle directory.

3. In the extracted Gradle directory, confirm that there is a bin subdirectory. Take note of the path of the bin subdirectory (e.g., /temp/gradle-2.10/bin).

4. Add the path of the bin subdirectory to the PATH environment variable.

   In Windows, you may use this link as a guide.

   In Linux, kindly consult the Internet to permanently include the path of the Gradle bin directory to the PATH environment variable.

   
   

5. Open a terminal window and issue the gradle command to confirm that gradle is set-up properly.

   > gradle
   

   Output:

   :help
   
   Welcome to Gradle 2.10.
   
   To run a build, run gradle <task> ...
   
   To see a list of available tasks, run gradle tasks
   
   To see a list of command-line options, run gradle --help
   
   To see more detail about a task, run gradle help --task <task>
   
   BUILD SUCCESSFUL
   
   Total time: 2.034 secs
   

   
   

Understanding Gradle

Gradle is a build automation system. A build has one or more projects (e.g., the thing we build like a .jar file). A project, on the other hand, has one or more tasks (e.g., compiling a project or running a test).

1. Open a terminal window and check the tasks available in Gradle.

   > gradle tasks
   

   Output:

   :
   :
   assemble - Assembles the outputs of this project.
   build - Assembles and tests this project.
   buildDependents - Assembles and tests this project and all projects that depend on it.
   buildNeeded - Assembles and tests this project and all projects it depends on.
   classes - Assembles main classes.
   clean - Deletes the build directory.
   jar - Assembles a jar archive containing the main classes.
   testClasses - Assembles test classes.
   war - Generates a war archive with all the compiled classes, the web-app content and the libraries.
   

   Some of these tasks will be used in succeeding exercises involving Gradle.

   
   

End of Tutorial

Go back to the List of Tutorials.

What's next?

Gradle's Dependency Management Tutorial