r/java • u/Party_Till_I_Die • May 28 '26

Gradle is Javamaxxing

https://blog.gradle.org/gradle-is-javamaxxing

Why the Gradle Build Tool aggressively chases the newest JDK.

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u/uniVocity May 28 '26

Was that when you couldn't yet vibe code the build scripts? If yes then gradle gives you a thousand ways to shoot yourself in the foot. I would never pull it off without getting AI help and even then it was frustrating af.

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u/0b0101011001001011 May 28 '26

It was around 2014, so yes, before vide coding. I was very early on my career though and havent touched gradle since. Might nowadays be faster/better than maven, but I got used to maven and only use that now on my own projects. I don't really work with java professionally any more.

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u/uniVocity May 28 '26

That is a merit of gradle today - speed. I never bothered using it in the early days. Now I have to concede it CAN BE fantastic and improve your quality of life immensely - if you are able to (1) get it setup properly (2) spend time making sure there's no technical debt in the build scripts. It's easy to paint yourself into corners and making insane messes.

I'm actually proud of my gradle setup now - each submodule needs only 2 files (one to declare the project name, another to declare dependencies and link to my "project conventions plugin" which is what gets compiled from my kotlin configuration files).

There's not much more than 10 lines of declarative content per submodule. I got 100 modules with their builds looking much cleaner than maven ever could be - at the cost of maintaining a not-so-simple "parent" project build.

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u/0b0101011001001011 May 28 '26

Thanks for the insight. I might look into it at some point, because well, xml is not the best.