Android Studio Desugar: Transform Classes with Desugar for Debug fails

Question

My Android Studio project recently stopped building properly. I do not know what caused this issue.

Here is what I tried

• I tried to build my project with different Android Studio versions, i.e. stable and different Canary channel versions, no change
• I changed SDK versions around. My project built properly with SDK 26, but now it does not, also not with SDK 27
• I swapped build tools and Gradle versions around, my project built properly with Gradle plugin 3.1.0-alpha2 and build tools version 26.0.2. I tried many
• I used the "Clean Project", "Invalidate Caches"... functions in Android Studio uncountable times
• I deleted my build folders
• I switched Proguard on and off
• I tried fixing possible library issues, but all of it did not help

I think I actually changed everything back to the settings I used successfully before and my other projects with similar settings just build fine.

Full error code:

Error:java.lang.RuntimeException: com.android.build.api.transform.TransformException: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.RuntimeException: com.android.ide.common.process.ProcessException: Error while executing java process with main class com.google.devtools.build.android.desugar.Desugar with arguments {@...\app\build\intermediates\tmp\desugar_args165654356027684238}

Error:com.android.build.api.transform.TransformException: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.RuntimeException: com.android.ide.common.process.ProcessException: Error while executing java process with main class com.google.devtools.build.android.desugar.Desugar with arguments {@...\app\build\intermediates\tmp\desugar_args165654356027684238}
Error:java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.RuntimeException: com.android.ide.common.process.ProcessException: Error while executing java process with main class com.google.devtools.build.android.desugar.Desugar with arguments {@...\app\build\intermediates\tmp\desugar_args165654356027684238}
Error:java.lang.RuntimeException: com.android.ide.common.process.ProcessException: Error while executing java process with main class com.google.devtools.build.android.desugar.Desugar with arguments {@...\app\build\intermediates\tmp\desugar_args165654356027684238}
Error:com.android.ide.common.process.ProcessException: Error while executing java process with main class com.google.devtools.build.android.desugar.Desugar with arguments {@...\app\build\intermediates\tmp\desugar_args165654356027684238}

Error:org.gradle.process.internal.ExecException: Process 'command '...\jre\bin\java.exe'' finished with non-zero exit value 1

Problem description

I have no clue what could (have) cause(d) this issue and I am clueless about what to try next, which is the reason why I am asking you for help. I hope anyone has any other help than what I could find.

I tagged Firebase because I think that the library might be the crucial point of my problem, now the problem is that it will never explain the sudden stop. I use FirebaseUI in my application and tried the old working dependencies, but also upgrading Firebase and then using this guide to match the outdated UI library. I also removed FirebaseUI, but this did neither make a successful build.

Answer 1

I fixed it (and another Kotlin related issue, by just completely wiping everything Android and Gradle related from my computer and then installing everything from scratch. Whole process was a torture, so I am still keen for a quick solution. I do not want to spend hours on this again :)