I'm trying to have some plugins applied universally across a build: I've essentially created the following block:

plugins {
    ...
    id("io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt") version "1.15.0" apply true
    // ktlint linter - read more: <https://github.com/JLLeitschuh/ktlint-gradle>
    id("org.jlleitschuh.gradle.ktlint") version "9.4.1" apply true
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
        jcenter()
    }

    apply(plugin = "io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt")
    apply(plugin = "org.jlleitschuh.gradle.ktlint")

    dependencies {
        detektPlugins("io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt:detekt-formatting:1.14.2")
    }

    // Configure detekt plugin.
    // Read more: <https://detekt.github.io/detekt/kotlindsl.html>
    detekt {
        config = files("${rootProject.projectDir}/detekt-config.yml")
        buildUponDefaultConfig = true

        reports {
            html.enabled = false
            xml.enabled = false
            txt.enabled = false
        }
    }

    tasks {
        withType<Detekt> {
            jvmTarget = "11"
        }
    }
}

I'm getting the following errors:

e: ./build.gradle.kts:74:9: Unresolved reference: detektPlugins
e: ./build.gradle.kts:80:5: Unresolved reference: detekt
e: ./build.gradle.kts:81:9: Unresolved reference: config
e: ./build.gradle.kts:82:9: Unresolved reference: buildUponDefaultConfig
e: ./build.gradle.kts:84:9: Unresolved reference: reports
e: ./build.gradle.kts:85:13: Unresolved reference: html
e: ./build.gradle.kts:85:18: Variable expected
e: ./build.gradle.kts:86:13: Unresolved reference: xml
e: ./build.gradle.kts:86:17: Variable expected
e: ./build.gradle.kts:87:13: Unresolved reference: txt
e: ./build.gradle.kts:87:17: Variable expected

You're not getting the accessors generated because subprojects do not use the

plugins {}

block

Yeah I was reading that you can't apply plugins using the plugins { } in an allprojects block. Putting one in there says:

^ Using 'plugins(PluginDependenciesSpec.() -> Unit): Nothing' is an error. The plugins {} block must not be used here. If you need to apply a plugin imperatively, please use apply<PluginType>() or apply(plugin = "id") instead.

You can also workaround by specifying the extension explicittely:

configure<DetektExtension> {
  ...
}

What should that wrap exactly?

That's the equivalent of

detekt {
}

Thanks that seems to run.

convention plugin is the term I was looking for: https://docs.gradle.org/release-nightly/userguide/structuring_software_products.html#defining_custom_project_types_as_convention_plugins

I will settle with what works for the moment as I'm still learning Kotlin and trying to get my project bootstrapped.

👍

Your initial example is perfectly fine. There is no reason why it should not work. It has some superfluous things like

apply true

which is the default anyway. But accessor-wise it works perfectly fine. I even copied your example, pasted it into an empty project, added the import for

Detekt

and removed

...

and it worked without any problem. The only thing I could imagine is, that you have other plugins applied too where the

...

is written and on of these fails to apply during generation of accessors, because in that case all accessors will not be available. And then with mbonnins suggestion it worked because you also fixed the other problem. But that is just a wild guess as long as you do not provide a reproducible example.

You're not getting the accessors generated because subprojects do not use the 

plugins {}

 block

That's pretty much non-sense, sorry. The scope of accessors is a build script, not any type of project. The

plugins

block of a script is applied to an empty project, then this project is investigated for all supported things (tasks, extensions, ...), for those accessors generated and then added to the class path of the script where the

plugins

block resides for compilation of the remaining script. You can use it anywhere in that script, also in

subprojects

or

allprojects

closures, even with them being not the best practice anymore.

You can use it anywhere in that script, also in 

subprojects

 or 

allprojects

 closures, even with them being not the best practice anymore.

That seems to contradict https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/plugins.html#sec:constrained_syntax

The plugins {} block must also be a top level statement in the buildscript. It cannot be nested inside another construct (e.g. an if-statement or for-loop)

No it does not. I did not say you can use the

plugins

block, that will not work. I said you can use the accessors.

Ah, makes sense. But these accessors will configure the root project, right? Not sub-projects?

No

TIL

To say it again by example, this will not work:

allprojects {
    plugins {
        id("io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt") version "1.15.0"
    }
    dependencies {
        detektPlugins("io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt:detekt-formatting:1.14.2")
    }
    detekt {
        buildUponDefaultConfig = true
    }
}

This will work:

plugins {
    id("io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt") version "1.15.0"
}
allprojects {
    apply(plugin = "io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt")
    dependencies {
        detektPlugins("io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt:detekt-formatting:1.14.2")
    }
    detekt {
        buildUponDefaultConfig = true
    }
}

This will also work:

plugins {
    id("io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt") version "1.15.0"
}
subprojects {
    apply(plugin = "io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt")
}
allprojects {
    dependencies {
        detektPlugins("io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt:detekt-formatting:1.14.2")
    }
    detekt {
        buildUponDefaultConfig = true
    }
}

And now the super-question, why will this not work? You can win a virtual cookie. :-)

plugins {
    id("io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt") version "1.15.0" apply false
}
allprojects {
    apply(plugin = "io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt")
    dependencies {
        detektPlugins("io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt:detekt-formatting:1.14.2")
    }
    detekt {
        buildUponDefaultConfig = true
    }
}

Gosh, because it's not applied to the root project?

But

allprojects {
    apply(plugin = "io.gitlab.arturbosch.detekt")

does apply it, doesn't it?

Yea but I guess that happens after accessors generation

Exactly. As I said, for accessor generation the plugins block is copied to an empty project, that is evaluated and then investigated for things to generate accessors for. If the plugins block does not apply the plugin, no accessors will be generated.

Yup, this is what mislead me, since there's a need for the plugin to be applied, I was somehow assuming the accessors were "bound" to a project

yw