Gradle flavors for android with custom source sets - what should the gradle files look like?

I think you'd be better off not defining custom sourceSets but using the default gradle configuration. I used to do custom sourcesets until I realized the conventions are, well, convenient.

You'll want something like this:

+ src
    + main // this is your common code
        + java 
        + res
    + flavor1
        + java
        + res
    + flavor2
        + java
        + res

Then you can just go ahead and remove the sourcesets closure from your build.gradle

NOTE: For the gradle configuration, resources are merged or overridden whereas all java code is put on the same class-path. For example, the AndroidManifest.xml files for each flavor need only have the differences from main's manifest file. Having an asset, for example, ic_launcher in a flavor overrides the ic_launcher from main if such file exists. However, having a file HomeActivity.java in both main and the flavor is not possible and will give a duplicate file error.

You are welcome to use the custom sourceSets and flavours (or buildTypes) if you wish.

As an example, you can set them in your Gradle file as follows:-

productFlavors {
    flavor2 {
    }
    flavor1 {
    }
}

sourceSets{
    main {
        manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'
        java.srcDirs = ['src/commonFiles/java']
        resources.srcDirs = ['src/commonFiles/java']
        aidl.srcDirs = ['src/commonFiles/java']
        renderscript.srcDirs = ['src/commonFiles/java']
        res.srcDirs = ['res']
        assets.srcDirs = ['assets']
    }
  flavor1 {
       java.srcDirs = ['src-flavor1'] 
       res.srcDirs = ['res-flavor1']
       ...
    }

}

Here is what my Gradle looks like :

   productFlavors {
    // Still keeping the productFlavors closure in case we decide to add flavors later
    normal {
        applicationId 'com.akshat'
    }
    qa {
        applicationId 'com.akshat.qa'
    }
}

 sourceSets {
    main {
        manifest.srcFile 'AndroidManifest.xml'
        java.srcDirs = ['src']
        resources.srcDirs = ['src']
        aidl.srcDirs = ['src']
        renderscript.srcDirs = ['src']
        res.srcDirs = ['res']
        assets.srcDirs = ['assets']
        jni.srcDirs = [] // Set empty since we use our own ndkBuild task
        jniLibs.srcDirs = ['libs']
    }

    normal {
        java.srcDirs = ['src_normal']
    }
    qa{
        java.srcDirs = ['src_qa']
    }

And here is how my Directory structure is :

MyApplication
    - res
    - libs
    - jni 
    - src
         -com/akshat/
    - src_qa
         - com/akshat/util/FlavorConst.java
    - src_normal
         - com/akshat/util/FlavorConst.java

This way works for me. Enjoy

sourceSets {
        main {
            manifest.srcFile 'src/AndroidManifest.xml'
            java.srcDirs = ['src/java']
            resources.srcDirs = ['srs/others']
            res.srcDirs = ['src/res']
            assets.srcDirs = ['src/assets']
            jniLibs.srcDirs = ['jniLibs']
        }
        development{
            res.srcDirs += ['development/src/res']
        }
        standford{
            res.srcDirs += ['standford/src/res']
        }

        commercial{
            res.srcDirs += ['commercial/src/res']
        }

    }
    productFlavors {
        development{
            flavorDimensions "default"
        }
        standford{
            flavorDimensions "default"
        }
        commercial{
            flavorDimensions "default"
        }
    }