android gms big method count. How to avoid it?

Question

I do - as many developers, have issues with the infamous android 65000 methods limit. I'm already multi-dexing my app but I'd really like to make it lighter somehow.

This is the graph of my app's methods (taken with dexcount plugin: https://github.com/KeepSafe/dexcount-gradle-plugin ).

As you can see, most of the methods come from the com.google.android.gms package. This is the list of dependencies from build.gradle file:

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar', '*.aar'])
    compile project(':libs:cip-library:cip-library')
    compile project(':libs:android-times-square')
    compile files('../libs/mobile.connect-android-1.7.6.jar')
    compile files('../libs/dtapl-2.1.1.jar')
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:24.2.1'
    compile 'com.android.support:cardview-v7:24.2.1'
    compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.1'
    compile 'com.nostra13.universalimageloader:universal-image-loader:1.9.3'
    compile 'com.nhaarman.listviewanimations:lib-core:3.1.0@aar'
    compile 'com.nhaarman.listviewanimations:lib-manipulation:3.1.0@aar'
    compile 'com.nhaarman.listviewanimations:lib-core-slh:3.1.0@aar'
    compile 'com.nineoldandroids:library:2.4.0'
    compile 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.4'
    compile 'de.greenrobot:greendao:2.0.0'
    compile 'com.pnikosis:materialish-progress:1.5'
    compile 'org.adw.library:discrete-seekbar:1.0.0'
    compile 'com.android.support:design:24.2.1'
    compile 'net.fredericosilva:showTipsView:1.0.4'
    compile 'com.google.maps.android:android-maps-utils:0.4.4'
    compile 'com.robohorse.gpversionchecker:gpversionchecker:1.0.8'
    compile 'net.danlew:android.joda:2.9.4.1'
    compile 'com.android.support:support-annotations:24.2.1'
    compile('com.crashlytics.sdk.android:crashlytics:2.6.2@aar') {
        transitive = true;
    }
    compile('com.mikepenz:aboutlibraries:5.7.1@aar') {
        transitive = true
    }
}

Now, I know these dependencies are not a few, but what I don't understand is specifically which one - and how - is triggering the dependency on packages like com.google.android.gms.internal.games, while my app is not a game, com.google.android.gms.internal.cast or com.google.android.gms.internal.fitness. And - most of all - how could I ever get rid of those dependencies?

Thank you very much Marco

Answer 1

To understand where certain dependencies come from, run the dependencies Gradle task on your app's module. Suppose your app's module is called app , then the command will look like:

./gradlew -q :app:dependencies

The output should contain all transitive dependencies, and it should be easy to see which libraries are dragging the stuff that you want to get rid of.