Just code it

I have heard about the dex 65536 method count limit long time ago and I finally meet this problem recently. After digging around, I decided to strip off some unused method in an external jar, using jarjar.

Here are some little steps I used, using asmack jar as example.

Before fix

# convert jar to dex
>> $BUILD_TOOL_PATH/dx --dex --output asmack.dex asmack.jar
# method count
>> dex-method-count asmack.dex
5584
>> dex-method-count-by-package asmack.dex
...
113 com.novell
...
61  de.measite
...
1894    org.jivesoftware.smack
...
3585    org.jivesoftware.smackx
...
423 org.apachea
...

Create rule.txt with this line

zap org.jivesoftware.**

Run jarjar

# run modify jar
>> java -jar jarjar.jar process rule.txt asmack.jar asmack-modified.jar

# build dex file again
>> $BUILD_TOOL_PATH/dx --dex --output asmack-modified.dex asmack-modified.jar

# see the difference
>> dex-method-count asmack-modified.dex
554

Reference

• https://code.google.com/p/jarjar/
• https://medium.com/@rotxed/dex-skys-the-limit-no-65k-methods-is-28e6cb40cf71
• http://jakewharton.com/play-services-is-a-monolith/
• dex.sh – https://gist.github.com/JakeWharton/6002797