Can't override SystemProperty defined in gradle.properties from command line

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1

I have a multimodule build which has a simple task in a subproject

task printSysProp << {
   println "foo is '${System.properties.foo}'"
}

And I define the system property foo in gradle.properties

systemProp.foo=Hello from gradle.properties

As expected, running the task outputs the system property

$ gradle printSysProp
:subproject:printSysProp
foo is 'Hello from gradle.properties'

Now, I’d like to override the property from command line, but nothing I try will override this.

I’ve tried:

  1. gradle -Dfoo=bar printSysProp
  2. gradle -DsystemProp.foo=bar printSysProp
  3. gradle -PsystemProp.foo=bar printSysProp

But none change the println (the value is always “Hello from gradle.properties”)
I’m using Gradle 2.11

I have created a project demonstrating the issue here. I’d like a way to specify a default in gradle.properties but have the option to override from command line.

2

Thanks for the repro project.

This is a known limitation right now: https://issues.gradle.org/browse/GRADLE-2122

Workaround is to try to use project properties instead (depending on what the system properties are used for).

3

This is definitely not in keeping with what is described in the user guide. I’ve pushed a fix for this which will be included in Gradle 2.12.

4

Thanks for the quick fix. Unfortunately this won’t come soon enough so I’ll have to use @sterling’s suggestion of a project property for the moment.