Exclude specific build variants

I have the two default build types: debug / release and a couple of flavors: prod / dev.

Now I want to exclude the build variant dev-release, but keep all other possible combinations. Is there a way to achieve this?

Variant filter

Use the variantFilter of the gradle android plugin to mark certain combinations as ignored. Here is an example from the official documentation that works with flavor dimensions and shows how it can be used:

android {
  ...
  buildTypes {...}

  flavorDimensions "api", "mode"
  productFlavors {
    demo {...}
    full {...}
    minApi24 {...}
    minApi23 {...}
    minApi21 {...}
  }

  variantFilter { variant ->
      def names = variant.flavors*.name
      // To check for a certain build type, use variant.buildType.name == "<buildType>"
      if (names.contains("minApi21") && names.contains("demo")) {
          // Gradle ignores any variants that satisfy the conditions above.
          setIgnore(true)
      }
  }
}

As the comment says, you can also check the buildType like so:

android {
    variantFilter { variant ->
        def names = variant.flavors*.name
        if(variant.buildType.name == 'release' && names.contains("myforbiddenflavor")) {
            setIgnore(true)
        }
    }
}

When working with flavor dimensions try this one

variantFilter { variant ->
    def dim = variant.flavors.collectEntries {
        [(it.productFlavor.dimension): it.productFlavor.name]
    }

    if (dim.dimensionOne == 'paid' && dim.dimensionSecond == 'someVal') {
        variant.setIgnore(true);
    }
}

Using variant filters like others I found it was easiest to do this by comparing the variant name against a list of variants that I want to keep.

So in my app/build.gradle file I have something like:

android {
    variantFilter { variant ->
        def needed = variant.name in [
                'stagingQuickDebug',       // for development
                'stagingFullDebug',        // for debugging all configurations
                'stagingFullCandidate',    // for local builds before beta release
                'stagingFullRelease',      // for beta releases
                'productionFullCandidate', // for local builds before going public
                'productionFullRelease'    // for public releases
        ]
        variant.setIgnore(!needed)
    }
    buildTypes {
        debug {
        }
        release {
        }
        candidate.initWith(release)
    }
    flavorDimensions "server", "build"
    productFlavors {
        staging {
            dimension "server"
            buildConfigField "String", "API_URL", '"https://example-preprod.com/"'
        }
        production {
            dimension "server"
            buildConfigField "String", "API_URL", '"https://example.com/"'
        }
        quick {
            dimension "build"
            minSdkVersion 21
            resConfigs("en", "xxhdpi")
        }
        full {
            dimension "build"
        }
    }
}

If you use flavor dimensions do this:

flavorDimensions "device", "server"

productFlavors {
    emulator {
        dimension = "device"
    }
    phone {
        dimension = "device"
    }
    staging {
        dimension = "server"
    }
    production {
        dimension = "server"
    }
}

android.variantFilter { variant ->
    def device = variant.getFlavors().get(0).name
    def server = variant.getFlavors().get(1).name
    def isRelease = variant.buildType.name.equals('release')
    def isDebug = variant.buildType.name.equals('debug')

    // Disable emulatorProductionRelease build variant
    if (device.equals('emulator') && server.equals('production') && isRelease) {
        variant.setIgnore(true)
    }
}

It's easy to read and you can target specific build variants.

The solutions here didn't work for me - I run into [this post][1] and added this to build.gradle in my app and it solved the issue for me

gradle.taskGraph.whenReady { graph ->
  graph.allTasks.findAll { it.name ==~ /.*MyVariant.*/ }*.enabled = false
}

This is what it does - waits for gradle to assemble the complete list of tasks to execute and then it marks all the tasks that match the name pattern as disabled

NOTE The match is exact - the expression above lets you match any task that has "MyVariant" somewhere in it's name and it is case sensitive

[1]: https://kousenit.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/excluding-gradle-tasks-with-a-name-pattern/ "this post"

The answer of @ade.se didn't work for me. But I've struggled a little, and written this, that works great:

android {
compileSdkVersion 22
buildToolsVersion '20.0.0'

variantFilter { variant ->
    if (variant.buildType.name.equals('debug') || variant.buildType.name.equals('release')) {
        variant.setIgnore(true);
    }
}

defaultConfig {
    applicationId "com.fewlaps.quitnow"
    minSdkVersion 15
    targetSdkVersion 22
    versionCode 35
    versionName "1.35"
}

The code you have to add is the variantFilter one, but I've pasted a little of the context to make it easy to understand.

See Variant filter answer above.

Old Answer:

It's not possible at the moment, but it's something we want to add. Probably soon.

In the meantime you could disable the assemble task I think. Something like this:

android.applicationVariants.all { variant ->
   if ("devRelease".equals(variant.name)) {
       variant.assembleTask.enabled = false
   }
}

One more simpler way

android.variantFilter { variant ->
    if (variant.name == "qaDebug" || variant.name == "devRelease") {
        setIgnore(true)
    }
}

Or if you place this code inside android {} closure, android. can be omitted

android {
    // Please always specify the reason for such filtering
    variantFilter { variant ->
        if (variant.name == "qaDebug" || variant.name == "devRelease") {
            setIgnore(true)
        }
    }
}

Please always put a meaningful comment for things like this.

UPD: For Kotlin Gradle DSL there is another way:

android {
    variantFilter {
        ignore = listOf("qaDebug", "devRelease").contains(name)
    }
}

In Gradle's Kotlin DSL (i.e. build.gradle.kts), that would be:

variantFilter {
    ignore = buildType.name == "release" &&
             flavors.map { it.name }.contains("dev")
}