Using build types in Gradle to run same app that uses ContentProvider on one device

I have set up Gradle to add package name suffix to my debug app so I could have release version that I'm using and debug version on one phone. I was referencing this: http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide#TOC-Build-Types

My build.gradle file looks like this:

...
android
{
    ...
    buildTypes
    {
        debug
        {
            packageNameSuffix ".debug"
            versionNameSuffix " debug"
        }
    }
}

Everything works fine until I start using a ContentProvider in my app. I get:

Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_CONFLICTING_PROVIDER]

I understand that this happens because two apps (release and debug) are registering same ContentProvider authority.

I see one possibility to solve this. If I understand correctly, you should be able to specify different files to use when building. Then I should be able to put different authorities in different resource files (and from Manifest set authority as string resource) and tell Gradle to use different resource for debug build. Is that possible? If yes then any hints on how to achieve that would be awesome!

Or maybe it's possible to directly modify Manifest using Gradle? Any other solution on how to run same app with ContentProvider on one device is always welcome.

None of existing answers satisfied me, however Liberty was close. So this is how am I doing it. First of all at the moment I am working with:

• Android Studio Beta 0.8.2
• Gradle plugin 0.12.+
• Gradle 1.12

My goal is to run Debug version along with Release version on the same device using the same ContentProvider.

---

In build.gradle of your app set suffix for Debug build:

buildTypes {
    debug {
        applicationIdSuffix ".debug"
    }
}

---

In AndroidManifest.xml file set android:authorities property of your ContentProvider:

<provider
    android:name="com.example.app.YourProvider"
    android:authorities="${applicationId}.provider"
    android:enabled="true"
    android:exported="false" >
</provider>

---

In your code set AUTHORITY property that can be used wherever needed in your implementation:

public static final String AUTHORITY = BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID + ".provider";

Tip: Before it was BuildConfig.PACKAGE_NAME

That's it! It will work like a charm. Keep reading if you use SyncAdapter!

---

Update for SyncAdapter (14.11.2014)

Once again I will start with my current setup:

• Android Studio Beta 0.9.2
• Gradle plugin 0.14.1
• Gradle 2.1

Basically, if you need to customise some values for different builds you can do it from the build.gradle file:

• use buildConfigField to access it from the BuildConfig.java class
• use resValue to access it from resources e.g. @string/your_value

As an alternative for resources, you can create separate buildType or flavour directories and override XMLs or values within them. However, I am not going to use it in example below.

Example

---

In build.gradle file add the following:

defaultConfig {
    resValue "string", "your_authorities", applicationId + '.provider'
    resValue "string", "account_type", "your.syncadapter.type"
    buildConfigField "String", "ACCOUNT_TYPE", '"your.syncadapter.type"'
}

buildTypes {
    debug {
        applicationIdSuffix ".debug"
        resValue "string", "your_authorities", defaultConfig.applicationId + '.debug.provider'
        resValue "string", "account_type", "your.syncadapter.type.debug"
        buildConfigField "String", "ACCOUNT_TYPE", '"your.syncadapter.type.debug"'
    }
}

You will see results in BuildConfig.java class

public static final String ACCOUNT_TYPE = "your.syncadapter.type.debug";

and in build/generated/res/generated/debug/values/generated.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>

    <!-- Automatically generated file. DO NOT MODIFY -->
    <!-- Values from default config. -->
    <item name="account_type" type="string">your.syncadapter.type.debug</item>
    <item name="authorities" type="string">com.example.app.provider</item>

</resources>

---

In your authenticator.xml use resource specified in build.gradle file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<account-authenticator xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
                       android:accountType="@string/account_type"
                       android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
                       android:smallIcon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
                       android:label="@string/app_name"
/>

---

In your syncadapter.xml use the same resource again and @string/authorities too

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<sync-adapter xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
              android:contentAuthority="@string/authorities"
              android:accountType="@string/account_type"
              android:userVisible="true"
              android:supportsUploading="false"
              android:allowParallelSyncs="false"
              android:isAlwaysSyncable="true"
        />

Tip: autocompletion(Ctrl+Space) does not work for these generated resource so you have to type them manually

New Android build system tip: ContentProvider authority renaming

I guess all of you have heard of the new Android Gradle-based build system. Let's be honest, this new build system is a huge step forward compared to the previous one. It is not final yet (as of this writing, the latest version is 0.4.2) but you can already use it safely in most of your projects.

I've personnaly switched most of my project to this new build system and had some issues because of the lack of support in some particular situations. One of which is the support for ContentProvider authority renaming

The new Android built system lets you deal with different types of your app by simply modifying the package name at build time. One of the main advantage of this improvement is you can now have two different versions of your app installed on the same device at the same time. For instance:

android {
   compileSdkVersion 17
   buildToolsVersion "17.0.0"

   defaultConfig {
       packageName "com.cyrilmottier.android.app"
       versionCode 1
       versionName "1"
       minSdkVersion 14 // Listen to +Jeff Gilfelt advices :)
       targetSdkVersion 17
   }

   buildTypes {
       debug {
       	packageNameSuffix ".debug"
            versionNameSuffix "-debug"
       }
   }
}

Using such a Gradle configuration, you can assemble two different APKs :

• A debug APK with the com.cyrilmottier.android.app.debug package name • A release APK with the com.cyrilmottier.android.app package name

The only issue with that is you won't be able to install the two APKs at the same time if they both expose a ContentProvider with the same authorities. Pretty logically we need to rename the authority depending on the current build type … but this is not supported by the Gradle build system (yet? ... I'm sure it will be fixed soon). So here is a way to go:

First we need to move the provider Android manifest ContentProvider declaration to the appropriate build type. In order to do that we will simply have :

src/debug/AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   package="com.cyrilmottier.android.app"
   android:versionCode="1"
   android:versionName="1">

   <application>

       <provider
           android:name=".provider.Provider1"
           android:authorities="com.cyrilmottier.android.app.debug.provider"
           android:exported="false" />

   </application>
</manifest>

src/release/AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   package="com.cyrilmottier.android.app"
   android:versionCode="1"
   android:versionName="1">

   <application>

       <provider
           android:name=".provider.Provider1"
           android:authorities="com.cyrilmottier.android.app.provider"
           android:exported="false" />

   </application>
</manifest>

Make sure to remove the ContentProvider declaration from the AndroidManifest.xml in src/main/ because Gradle doesn't know how to merge ContentProviders having the same name but a different authority.

Finally we may need to access to the authority in the code. This can be done pretty easily using the BuildConfig file and the buildConfig method:

android {	
   // ...

    final PROVIDER_DEBUG = "com.cyrilmottier.android.app.debug.provider"
    final PROVIDER_RELEASE = "com.cyrilmottier.android.app.provider"

   buildTypes {
       debug {
           // ...
           buildConfigField "String", "PROVIDER_AUTHORITY", PROVIDER_DEBUG
       }

       release {
           buildConfigField "String", "PROVIDER_AUTHORITY", PROVIDER_RELEASE
       }
   }
}

Thanks to this workaround you'll be able to use BuildConfig.PROVIDER_AUTHORITY in your ProviderContract and install two different versions of your app at the same time.

---

Originaly on Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/118417777153109946393/posts/EATUmhntaCQ

While Cyril's example works great if you only have a few build types, it quickly gets complicated if you have many build types and/or product flavors as you need to maintain lots of different AndroidManifest.xml's.

Our project consists of 3 different build types and 6 flavors totaling 18 build variants, so instead we added support for ".res-auto" in ContentProvider authorities, which expand to the current packagename and removes the need to maintain different AndroidManifest.xml

/**
 * Version 1.1.
 *
 * Add support for installing multiple variants of the same app which have a
 * content provider. Do this by overriding occurrences of ".res-auto" in
 * android:authorities with the current package name (which should be unique)
 *
 * V1.0 : Initial version
 * V1.1 : Support for ".res-auto" in strings added, 
 *        eg. use "<string name="auth">.res-auto.path.to.provider</string>"
 *
 */
def overrideProviderAuthority(buildVariant) {
    def flavor = buildVariant.productFlavors.get(0).name
    def buildType = buildVariant.buildType.name
    def pathToManifest = "${buildDir}/manifests/${flavor}/${buildType}/AndroidManifest.xml"
 
    def ns = new groovy.xml.Namespace("http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android", "android")
    def xml = new XmlParser().parse(pathToManifest)
    def variantPackageName = xml.@package
 
    // Update all content providers
    xml.application.provider.each { provider ->
        def newAuthorities = provider.attribute(ns.authorities).replaceAll('.res-auto', variantPackageName)
        provider.attributes().put(ns.authorities, newAuthorities)
    }
 
    // Save modified AndroidManifest back into build dir
    saveXML(pathToManifest, xml)
 
    // Also make sure that all strings with ".res-auto" are expanded automagically
    def pathToValues = "${buildDir}/res/all/${flavor}/${buildType}/values/values.xml"
    xml = new XmlParser().parse(pathToValues)
    xml.findAll{it.name() == 'string'}.each{item ->
        if (!item.value().isEmpty() && item.value()[0].startsWith(".res-auto")) {
            item.value()[0] = item.value()[0].replace(".res-auto", variantPackageName)
        }
    }
    saveXML(pathToValues, xml)
}
 
def saveXML(pathToFile, xml) {
    def writer = new FileWriter(pathToFile)
    def printer = new XmlNodePrinter(new PrintWriter(writer))
    printer.preserveWhitespace = true
    printer.print(xml)
}
 
// Post processing of AndroidManifest.xml for supporting provider authorities
// across build variants.
android.applicationVariants.all { variant ->
    variant.processManifest.doLast {
        overrideProviderAuthority(variant)
    }
}

Example code can be found here: https://gist.github.com/cmelchior/6988275

Since the plugin version 0.8.3 (actually 0.8.1 but it wasn't working properly) you can define resources within the build file so this could be a cleaner solution because you don't need to create strings files nor additional debug/release folders.

build.gradle

android {
    buildTypes {
        debug{
            resValue "string", "authority", "com.yourpackage.debug.provider"
        }
        release {
            resValue "string", "authority", "com.yourpackage.provider"
        }
    }
}

AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   package="com.yourpackage"
   android:versionCode="1"
   android:versionName="1">

   <application>

       <provider
           android:name=".provider.Provider1"
           android:authorities="@string/authority"
           android:exported="false" />

   </application>
</manifest>

I don't know if anybody mention it. Actually after android gradle plugin 0.10+, the manifest merger will provide the official support for this function: http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide/manifest-merger

In AndroidManifest.xml, you can use ${packageName} like this:

<provider
    android:name=".provider.DatabasesProvider"
    android:authorities="${packageName}.databasesprovider"
    android:exported="true"
    android:multiprocess="true" />

And in your build.gradle you can have:

productFlavors {
    free {
        packageName "org.pkg1"
    }
    pro {
        packageName "org.pkg2"
    }
}

See full example here: https://code.google.com/p/anymemo/source/browse/AndroidManifest.xml#152

and here: https://code.google.com/p/anymemo/source/browse/build.gradle#41

Use ${applicationId} placeholders in xml and BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID in code.

You will need to extend the build script to enable placeholders in xml files other than the manifest. You could use a source directory per build variant to provide different versions of the xml files but maintenance will become cumbersome very quickly.

AndroidManifest.xml

You can use the applicationId placeholder out of the box in the manifest. Declare your provider like this:

<provider
    android:name=".provider.DatabaseProvider"
    android:authorities="${applicationId}.DatabaseProvider"
    android:exported="false" />

Note the ${applicationId} bit. This is replaced at build time with the actual applicationId for the build variant that is being built.

In code

Your ContentProvider needs to construct the authority string in code. It can use the BuildConfig class.

public class DatabaseContract {
    /** The authority for the database provider */
    public static final String AUTHORITY = BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID + ".DatabaseProvider";
    // ...
}

Note the BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID bit. It is a generated class with the actual applicationId for the build variant being built.

res/xml/ files, e.g. syncadapter.xml, accountauthenticator.xml

If you want to use a Sync Adapter you will need to provide meta-data for the ContentProvider and AccountManager in xml files in the res/xml/ directory. The applicationId placeholder is not supported here. But you can extend the build script yourself to hack it in.

<sync-adapter xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:accountType="${applicationId}"
    android:allowParallelSyncs="false"
    android:contentAuthority="${applicationId}.DatabaseProvider"
    android:isAlwaysSyncable="true"
    android:supportsUploading="true"
    android:userVisible="true" />

<account-authenticator xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:accountType="${applicationId}"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/account_authenticator_label"
    android:smallIcon="@drawable/ic_launcher" />

Again, note the ${applicationId}. This only works if you add the below gradle script to the root of your module and apply it from build.gradle.

build.gradle

Apply the extra build script from the module build.gradle script. A good place is below the Android gradle plugin.

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
apply from: './build-processApplicationId.gradle'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 21
    // etc.

build-processApplicationId.gradle

Below is working source for a res/xml/ placeholder build script. A better documented version is available on github. Improvements and extensions are welcome.

def replace(File file, String target, String replacement) {
    def result = false;

    def reader = new FileReader(file)
    def lines = reader.readLines()
    reader.close()

    def writer = new FileWriter(file)
    lines.each { line ->
        String replacedLine = line.replace(target, replacement)
        writer.write(replacedLine)
        writer.write("\n")
        result = result || !replacedLine.equals(line)
    }
    writer.close()

    return result
}

def processXmlFile(File file, String applicationId) {
    if (replace(file, "\${applicationId}", applicationId)) {
        logger.info("Processed \${applicationId} in $file")
    }
}

def processXmlDir(File dir, String applicationId) {
    dir.list().each { entry ->
        File file = new File(dir, entry)
        if (file.isFile()) {
            processXmlFile(file, applicationId)
        }
    }
}

android.applicationVariants.all { variant ->
    variant.mergeResources.doLast {
        def applicationId = variant.mergedFlavor.applicationId + (variant.buildType.applicationIdSuffix == null ? "" : variant.buildType.applicationIdSuffix)
        def path = "${buildDir}/intermediates/res/${variant.dirName}/xml/"
        processXmlDir(new File(path), applicationId)
    }
}

Strings.xml

In my opinion there is no need to add placeholder support for resource strings. For the above use case at least it is not needed. However you could easily change the script to not only replace placeholders in the res/xml/ directory, but also in the res/values/ directory.

I would rather prefer a mixture between Cyril and rciovati. I think is more simplier, you only have two modifications.

The build.gradle looks like:

android {
    ...
    productFlavors {
        production {
            packageName "package.name.production"
            resValue "string", "authority", "package.name.production.provider"
            buildConfigField "String", "AUTHORITY", "package.name.production.provider"
        }

        testing {
            packageName "package.name.debug"
            resValue "string", "authority", "package.name.debug.provider"
            buildConfigField "String", "AUTHORITY", "package.name.debug.provider"
        }
    }
    ...
}

And the AndroidManifest.xml:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="package.name" >

    <application
        ...>

        <provider android:name=".contentprovider.Provider" android:authorities="@string/authority" />

    </application>
</manifest>

gradle.build

android {
	compileSdkVersion 23
	buildToolsVersion "23.0.1"

	defaultConfig {
		applicationId "com.example.awsomeapp"
		minSdkVersion 9
		targetSdkVersion 23
		versionCode 1
		versionName "1.0.0"
	}

	productFlavors
	{
		prod {
			applicationId = "com.example.awsomeapp"
		}

		demo {
			applicationId = "com.example.awsomeapp.demo"
			versionName = defaultConfig.versionName + ".DEMO"
		}
	}

	buildTypes {
		release {
			signingConfig signingConfigs.release
			debuggable false
			minifyEnabled false
			proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.txt'
		}

		debug {
			applicationIdSuffix ".debug"
			versionNameSuffix = ".DEBUG"
			debuggable true
		}
	}

	applicationVariants.all { variant ->
		variant.outputs.each { output ->
			// rename the apk
			def file = output.outputFile;
			def newName;
			newName = file.name.replace(".apk", "-" + defaultConfig.versionName + ".apk");
			newName = newName.replace(project.name, "awsomeapp");
			output.outputFile = new File(file.parent, newName);
		}

		//Generate values Content Authority and Account Type used in Sync Adapter, Content Provider, Authenticator
		def valueAccountType = applicationId + '.account'
		def valueContentAuthority = applicationId + '.authority'
		
		//generate fields in Resource string file generated.xml
		resValue "string", "content_authority", valueContentAuthority
		resValue "string", "account_type", valueAccountType
		
		//generate fields in BuildConfig class
		buildConfigField "String", "ACCOUNT_TYPE", '"'+valueAccountType+'"'
		buildConfigField "String", "CONTENT_AUTHORITY", '"'+valueContentAuthority+'"'
		
		//replace field ${valueContentAuthority} in AndroidManifest.xml
		mergedFlavor.manifestPlaceholders = [ valueContentAuthority: valueContentAuthority ]
	}
}

authenticator.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<account-authenticator xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
	android:accountType="@string/account_type"
	android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
	android:label="@string/app_name"
	android:smallIcon="@drawable/ic_launcher" />

sync_adapter.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<sync-adapter xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
			  android:contentAuthority="@string/content_authority"
			  android:accountType="@string/account_type"
			  android:userVisible="true"
			  android:allowParallelSyncs="false"
			  android:isAlwaysSyncable="true"
			  android:supportsUploading="true"/>
			  

AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="1.0.0" package="com.example.awsomeapp">

	<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.GET_ACCOUNTS"/><!-- SyncAdapter and GCM requires a Google account. -->
	<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.AUTHENTICATE_ACCOUNTS"/>
	<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.USE_CREDENTIALS"/>
	
	<!-- GCM Creates a custom permission so only this app can receive its messages. -->
	<permission android:name="${applicationId}.permission.C2D_MESSAGE" android:protectionLevel="signature"/>
	<uses-permission android:name="${applicationId}.permission.C2D_MESSAGE"/>
   
	<application....
	.......
		
		<!-- Stub Authenticator --> 
		<service 
				android:name="com.example.awsomeapp.service.authenticator.CAuthenticatorService"
				android:exported="true">
			<intent-filter>
				<action android:name="android.accounts.AccountAuthenticator"/>
			</intent-filter>
			<meta-data android:name="android.accounts.AccountAuthenticator" android:resource="@xml/authenticator"/>
		</service>
		<!--  -->
		
		<!-- Sync Adapter -->
		<service
				android:name="com.example.awsomeapp.service.sync.CSyncService"
				android:exported="true"
				android:process=":sync">
			<intent-filter>
				<action android:name="android.content.SyncAdapter"/>
			</intent-filter>
			<meta-data android:name="android.content.SyncAdapter" android:resource="@xml/sync_adapter" />
		</service>
		<!--  -->

		<!-- Content Provider -->
		<provider android:authorities="${valueContentAuthority}"
			android:exported="false" 
			android:name="com.example.awsomeapp.database.contentprovider.CProvider">
		</provider>
		<!--  --> 
	</application>
</manifest>

Code:

public static final String CONTENT_AUTHORITY = BuildConfig.CONTENT_AUTHORITY;
public static final String ACCOUNT_TYPE = BuildConfig.ACCOUNT_TYPE;
	
	

Based on the sample by @ChristianMelchior, here's my solution, which fixes two issues in the previous solutions:

• solutions that change values.xml in the build directory cause a full rebuild of resources (including aapt of all drawables)

• for an unknown reason, IntelliJ (and probably Android Studio) do not reliably process the resources, causing the build to contain un-replaced .res-auto provider authorities

This new solution does things more the Gradle way by creating a new task and allows for incremental builds by defining input and output files.

1. create a file (in the example I put it in a variants directory), formatted like a resource xml file, which contains string resources. These will be merged into the app's resources, and any occurrence of .res-auto in the values will be replaced with the variant's package name, for example <string name="search_provider">.res-auto.MySearchProvider</string>

2. add the build_extras.gradle file from this gist to your project and reference it from the main build.gradle by adding apply from: './build_extras.gradle' somewhere above the android block

3. make sure you set a default package name by adding it to the android.defaultConfig block of build.gradle

4. in AndroidManifest.xml and other configuration files (such as xml/searchable.xml for auto-completion search providers), reference the provider (for example @string/search_provider)

5. if you need to get the same name, you can use the BuildConfig.PACKAGE_NAME variable, for example BuildConfig.PACKAGE_NAME + ".MySearchProvider"

https://gist.github.com/paour/9189462

---

Update: this method only works on Android 2.2.1 and later. For earlier platforms, see this answer, which has its own set of problems, since the new manifest merger is still very rough around the edges…

I've written a blogpost with Github sample project that tackles this problem (and other similar problems) in a slightly different way than Cyril's.

http://brad-android.blogspot.com/2013/08/android-gradle-building-unique-build.html

Unfortunately, the current version (0.4.1) of the android plugin doesn't seem to provide a good solution for this. I haven't had time to try this yet, but a possible workaround for this problem would be to use a string resource @string/provider_authority, and use that in the manifest: android:authority="@string/provider_authority". You then have a res/values/provider.xml in the res folder of each build type that should override the authority, in your case this would be src/debug/res

I've looked into generating the xml file on the fly, but again, there doesn't seem to be any good hooks for it in the current version of the plugin. I'd recommend putting in a feature request though, I can imagine more people will run into this same issue.

The answer in this post works for me.

http://www.kevinrschultz.com/blog/2014/03/23/using-android-content-providers-with-multiple-package-names/

I use 3 different flavours so I create 3 manifest with content provider in each flavour as kevinrschultz said:

productFlavors {
    free {
        packageName "your.package.name.free"
    }

    paid {
        packageName "your.package.name.paid"
    }

    other {
        packageName "your.package.name.other"
    }
}

Your main Manifest not include providers:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<!-- Permissions -->
<application>
    <!-- Nothing about Content Providers at all -->
    <!-- Activities -->
    ...
    <!-- Services -->
    ...
</application>

And your manifest in your each flavour including provider.

Free:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<application>
    <!-- Content Providers -->
    <provider
        android:name="your.package.name.Provider"
        android:authorities="your.package.name.free"
        android:exported="false" >
    </provider>
</application>
</manifest>

Paid:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<application>
    <!-- Content Providers -->
    <provider
        android:name="your.package.name.Provider"
        android:authorities="your.package.name.paid"
        android:exported="false" >
    </provider>
</application>
</manifest>

Other:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<application>
    <!-- Content Providers -->
    <provider
        android:name="your.package.name.Provider"
        android:authorities="your.package.name.other"
        android:exported="false" >
    </provider>
</application>
</manifest>

Why not just add this?

> type.packageNameSuffix = ".$type.name"

My solution is to use placeholder replacement in AndroidManifest.xml. It also handles packageNameSuffix attributes so you can have debug and release as well as any other custom builds on the same device.

applicationVariants.all { variant ->
    def flavor = variant.productFlavors.get(0)
    def buildType = variant.buildType
    variant.processManifest.doLast {
        println '################# Adding Package Names to Manifest #######################'
        replaceInManifest(variant,
            'PACKAGE_NAME',
            [flavor.packageName, buildType.packageNameSuffix].findAll().join()) // ignores null
    }
}

def replaceInManifest(variant, fromString, toString) {
    def flavor = variant.productFlavors.get(0)
    def buildtype = variant.buildType
    def manifestFile = "$buildDir/manifests/${flavor.name}/${buildtype.name}/AndroidManifest.xml"
    def updatedContent = new File(manifestFile).getText('UTF-8').replaceAll(fromString, toString)
    new File(manifestFile).write(updatedContent, 'UTF-8')
}

I have it up on a gist too if you want to see if it evolves later.

I found to be a more elegant approach than the multiple resources and XML parsing approaches.