The (critical) problem:

Android Studio Arctic Fox 2020.3.1 Arctic Fox Canary 3 (and Canary 1 & Canary 2) and the Android Gradle Plugin version 7.0.0-alpha03 (and alpha 02 and 03) don't deploy changes in code, as value changes of compile time constants are not reflected when running the app after a change: the old value is still used.

I witnessed the issue on a Google Pixel 2 XL running the very latest Android 11 (with the "final" update that came after it'd say there would not be further updates).

I've been able to catch it because I enabled network logging and had to change the baseUrl. I suspect many people think they are going crazy or that their app or device is broken while it is "just" that their changes are not being deployed.

I don't know if it only affects changes to values of constants, and I don't know if it affects all Android versions, some Android versions (like 8+) or only Android 11.

That critical bug can be seen whether you use the green triangle "Run" button or if you run the installDebug Gradle task from the Gradle tool window. It might also happen from command line (where there's no IDE injected properties).

Also, note that I tested it through Wireless debugging that I paired in the command line without plugging the device while the UI to do it was missing in the first 2020.3.1 Canary.

Steps to Reproduce:

Get/create an Android Project that uses AGP 7.0.0-alpha03
Create two constants: const val one = 1; const val two = 2
Create a third constant referencing the first one: const val current = one
Print/log this constant in an entry point of the app (e.g. onCreate): Log.d("CURRENT", current)
Run the app on an Android 11 device and check the value in the logs. It should show 1 for the "CURRENT" tag.
Change current so it references two instead of one: const val current = two
Run the app again (not using apply changes) on the same device and check the value in the logs…

Expected result:

You see 2 for the "CURRENT" tag in the logs, reflecting the changes.

Actual result:

You see 1 for the "CURRENT" tag in the logs, showing it didn't deploy the changes or a new app.

Side effects:

I want to smash my poor computer that just did what he was asked for by the programs.

Trust issues introduced in AS Arctic Fox

This issue really worrying and disrupting, I cannot trust code deployed by AGP 7 or AS Arctic Fox at all so far:

I tried to uninstall my app and reinstall with the IDE, and the issue is still there 😓

I changed a constant (the baseUrl for a server) to reference another constant with a different value, and it didn't take the change into account despite the uninstall.

I hope the "Instant Run" nightmare isn't having a second season.

IDE info

Android Studio Arctic Fox | 2020.3.1 Canary 3
Build #AI-202.7319.50.2031.7019041, built on December 8, 2020
Runtime version: 11.0.8+10-b944.6842174 x86_64
VM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM by N/A
macOS 10.15.7
GC: G1 Young Generation, G1 Old Generation
Memory: 4096M
Cores: 8
Registry: external.system.auto.import.disabled=true
Non-Bundled Plugins: com.jetbrains.performancePlugin, org.jetbrains.kotlin, com.jetbrains.kmm, com.squareup.sqldelight, org.intellij.plugins.markdown

Issue 175803961

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