Looks like https://issues.gradle.org/browse/GRADLE-1193 still open. Do we have any plan to get this fixed in 2.8 or 2.9?
By default, Gradle still uses a ‘newest’ resolution strategy. We also have a “fail on conflict” strategy too.
Outside of that, we have different ways of fine tuning the resolution process. You can see some examples in the DSL guide and in the User Guide. The user guide points out some of the common tweaks–forcing versions, blacklisting particular versions, replacing one external dependency with another and replacing external dependencies with local subprojects.
We also support dynamic (version ranges) and statuses (latest.integration) like Ivy.
The JIRA is pretty wide, so it’s hard to tell exactly when we’d close it, but I think a large part of the intent of the feature is covered (comparing 0.9 to 2.7, I would probably say it could be closed).
Are you looking for anything in particular?