I would think you’d only see that if using the --refresh-dependencies flag.
Bingo. We are indeed using that flag. Our use of --refresh-dependencies dates from 2012. Partially due to the forum discussions here and here, and partially for other reasons such as subpar project structure and incomplete understanding of “changing” modules.
I removed the flag from one of the projects, and of course, now I see
21:15:00.753 [DEBUG] [org.gradle.api.internal.artifacts.ivyservice.ivyresolve.CachingModuleComponentRepository] Using cached module metadata for module 'org.nodejs:node:0.12.0' in 'ivy'
I think between removing this flag and appropriate application of ExternalModule#setChanging(), we should be able to find a workaround for our current problem and even improve build times. Thanks for the reply.