How to know which version of Google Firebase plugin to use in Flutter app?

Question

I've been stuck with Gradle not building (working on iOS fine). I struggled because Gradle was giving a generic error, finally got this today:

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong: Failed to capture fingerprint of input files for task ':app:preDebugBuild' property 'compileManifests' during up-to-date check.
> In project 'app' a resolved Google Play services library dependency depends on another at an exact version (e.g. "[18.0.   0]", but isn't being resolved to that version. Behavior exhibited by the library will be unknown.

  Dependency failing: com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging:18.0.0 -> com.google.firebase:firebase-iid@[18.0.0], but fire   base-iid version was 17.1.2.

  The following dependencies are project dependencies that are direct or have transitive dependencies that lead to the art   ifact with the issue.   -- Project 'app' depends on project 'firebase_messaging' which depends onto com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging@18.0.   0  
-- Project 'app' depends on project 'firebase_core' which depends onto com.google.firebase:firebase-core@16.0.9   -- Project 'app' depends on project 'firebase_analytics' which depends onto com.google.firebase:firebase-analytics@16.5.   0   -- Project 'app' depends on project 'firebase_remote_config' which depends onto com.google.firebase:firebase-config@16.4   .1   -- Project 'app' depends onto com.google.firebase:firebase-core@16.0.9

  For extended debugging info execute Gradle from the command line with ./gradlew --info :app:assembleDebug to see the dep   endency paths to the artifact. This error message came from the google-services Gradle plugin, report issues at https://   github.com/google/play-services-plugins and disable by adding "googleServices { disableVersionCheck = false }" to your b   uild.gradle file.

* 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

This was after I took out the version numbers from my pubspec to see if that would help. I don't understand Google's version numbering and I'm not sure which versions of plugins I should be installing as it has caused conflicts in the past:

dependencies:
 flutter:
 sdk: flutter
 http:
 cached_network_image: 
 flutter_cache_manager:
 carousel_pro: 
 cloud_firestore:
 firebase_core:
 firebase_remote_config:
 dynamic_theme: 
 flutter_signin_button:
 shared_preferences:
 share:
 flutter_search_bar:
 google_sign_in:
 #flutter_facebook_login:
 flutter_html: 
 requests: 
 webview_flutter:
 flutter_webview_plugin:
 firebase_analytics:
 flutter_app_badger:  #for launcher badge icon (notifications)
 uuid:
 font_awesome_flutter: 
 device_info:
 carousel_slider: 
 flutter_spinkit: 
 flutter_typeahead:
 firebase_messaging:
 html_unescape:
 flutter_masked_text: 
 configurable_expansion_tile: 
 stripe_payment:
 square_in_app_payments:

Google doesn't seem to maintain consistent version numbering and by taking out the version numbers I thought it would at least take the latest version of the plugins which theoretically should work. So, how can I solve this?

Answer 1

You should begin by putting the version number back in there.

This is an issue with firebase / play services versions being mismatched so you know for sure the other plugins in your pubspec.yaml are fine.

The dependancy which is failing is firebase messaging.

It's using many words to tell you

com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging:18.0.0 package depends on com.google.firebase:firebase-iid@[18.0.0]

but it's only finding 17.1.2.

You need

com.google.firebase:firebase-core@16.0.9
com.google.firebase:firebase-analytics@16.5.0
com.google.firebase:firebase-config@16.4.1

in the future, if you are having version issues check the specific packages GitHub issues to see if there's anything currently wrong with the version you're on. This will save you a lot of time.

I wouldn't recommend removing version numbers from your pubsepc.yaml but if you type

firebase_messaging: any

It will get a compatible version for you.

Answer 2

The error you are getting is not necessarily from the packages you have listed in pubspec.yaml. It is referring to the dependencies on build.gradle. Google has no issue with the version numbers. There is a difference between the versions of packages ie what you have listed on pubspec.yaml and the dependencies on app/build.gradle. It would be wise to reconsider the number of packages you use as every package has a dependency and you may end up in a sticky situation where multiple packages are conflicting. In addition you end up with a bloated solution for minimal functionality. Removing version numbers will not help as some packages are incompatible. I would suggest you start with the packages you require ie the firebase which from experience have no issues then incrementally add if necessary.