Getting MultiDex Error, even after setting Min SDK 21
android, android-multidex, gradle, performance, proguard
Solution
if you set your Min SDK to 21, then you don't need MultiDex
As per the "Multidex support for Android 5.0 and higher" instructions in the MultiDex guide, even if you `minSdk 21` then you still need compile with `multiDexEnabled true`. What you don't need to do is include the MultiDex support library via:
compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.0'
or call `MultiDex.install(Context)` in your `Application` class.
The 64K method problem is a limitation of the DEX file format and not of the Android Platform itself. The difference between the two versions is that Android 5.0+ knows how to automatically load multiple DEX files into a single OAT file and load classes from it while Android versions prior to 5.0 require the support library in order to load classes from secondary DEX files (e.g. classes2.dex, classes3.dex, etc).
Problem
The project i am working on has around `180k` Methods. I have read blogs, and articles where its written that if you set your `Min SDK` to `21`, then you don't need `MultiDex`. But if i remove `MultiDex` from here it gives me the `65k MultiDex` error message. Following is my `gradle` file. I don't know whether i failed to understand the concept or something else. Kindly guide me. ``` compileSdkVersion 23 buildToolsVersion "23.0.3" defaultConfig { applicationId 'com.myapp.app' minSdkVersion 21 targetSdkVersion 23 versionCode 59 versionName "1.0.1" multiDexEnabled true ndk { abiFilters "armeabi", "armeabi-v7a", "x86" } } dexOptions { javaMaxHeapSize "4g" //specify the heap size for the dex process } lintOptions { abortOnError false } buildTypes { release { minifyEnabled false proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro' } } productFlavors { } ```