What are iml files in Android Studio

Question

What are  iml files in Android Studio project  I read that it is configuration file for modules  I do not understand how it works  and can t I just use gradle scripts to integrate with external modules that you add to your project  Also  most of the time AS generates them  so I cannot control project behaviour  If I have a team that works in different IDEs like Eclipse and AS  is it possible to setup my project so it s IDE agnostic  I don t fully understand how this system works

User · Answer

They are project files  that hold the module information and meta data   Just add   iml to  gitignore   In Android Studio  Press CTRL   F9 to rebuild your project  The missing   iml files will be generated

User · Answer

What are iml files in Android Studio project    A Google search on iml file turns up      IML is a module file created by IntelliJ IDEA  an IDE used to develop Java applications  It stores information about a development module  which may be a Java  Plugin  Android  or Maven component  saves the module paths  dependencies  and other settings     from this page      why not to use gradle scripts to integrate with external modules that you add to your project    You do  use gradle scripts to integrate with external modules   or your own modules   However  Gradle is not IntelliJ IDEA s native project model  mdash  that is separate  held in  iml files and the metadata in  idea  directories  In Android Studio  that stuff is largely generated out of the Gradle build scripts  which is why you are sometimes prompted to  sync project with Gradle files  when you change files like build gradle  This is also why you don t bother putting  iml files or  idea  in version control  as their contents will be regenerated      If I have a team that work in different IDE s like Eclipse and AS how to make project IDE agnostic    To a large extent  you can t   You are welcome to have an Android project that uses the Eclipse-style directory structure  e g   resources and manifest in the project root directory   You can teach Gradle  via build gradle  how to find files in that structure  However  other metadata  compileSdkVersion  dependencies  etc   will not be nearly as easily replicated   Other alternatives include    Move everybody over to another build system  like Maven  that is equally integrated  or not  depending upon your perspective  to both Eclipse and Android Studio Hope that Andmore takes off soon  so that perhaps you can have an Eclipse IDE that can build Android projects from Gradle build scripts Have everyone use one IDE

User · Answer

Add  idea and   iml to  gitignore  you don t need those files to successfully import and compile the project

User · Answer

Those files are created and used by Android Studio editor   You don t need to check in those files to version control   Git uses  gitignore file  that contains list of files and directories  to know the list of files and directories that don t need to be checked in   Android studio automatically creates  gitingnore files listing all files and directories which don t need to be checked in to any version control

[android-studio] What are .iml files in Android Studio?

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