[android] Tools: replace not replacing in Android manifest

I am using a gradle project with many different library dependencies and using the new manifest merger. In my <application /> tag I have it set up as such:

<application tools:replace="android:icon, android:label, android:theme, android:name"
    android:name="com.example.myapp.MyApplcation"
    android:allowBackup="true"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/application_name"
    android:logo="@drawable/logo_ab"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme"
    >
....
</application>

Yet I am receiving the error:

/android/MyApp/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:29:9        Error:
Attribute application@icon value=(@drawable/ic_launcher) from AndroidManifest.xml:29:9
is also present at {Library Name} value=(@drawable/app_icon)
Suggestion: add 'tools:replace="android:icon"' to <application> element at AndroidManifest.xml:26:5 to override

/android/MyApp/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:30:9 Error:
Attribute application@label value=(@string/application_name) from AndroidManifest.xml:30:9
is also present at {Library Name} value=(@string/app_name)
Suggestion: add 'tools:replace="android:label"' to <application> element at AndroidManifest.xml:26:5 to override

/android/MyApp/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:27:9 Error:
Attribute application@name value=(com.example.myapp.MyApplication) from AndroidManifest.xml:27:9
is also present at {Another Library}

Suggestion: add 'tools:replace="android:name"' to <application> element at AndroidManifest.xml:26:5 to override

/android/MyApp/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:32:9 Error:
Attribute application@theme value=(@style/AppTheme) from AndroidManifest.xml:32:9
is also present at {Library Name} value=(@style/AppTheme)
Suggestion: add 'tools:replace="android:theme"' to <application> element at AndroidManifest.xml:26:5 to override

 tools:replace="android:supportsRtl,android:allowBackup,icon,label">

Declare your manifest header like this

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.yourpackage"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">

Then you can add to your application tag the following attribute:

<application
    tools:replace="icon, label" ../>

For example I need to replace icon and label. Good luck!

I fixed same issue. Solution for me:

1. add the xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" line in the manifest tag
2. add tools:replace=.. in the manifest tag
3. move android:label=... in the manifest tag

Example:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
              tools:replace="allowBackup, label"
              android:allowBackup="false"
              android:label="@string/all_app_name"/>

I was receiving a similar error on a project I was importing:

Multiple entries with same key: android:icon=REPLACE and tools:icon=REPLACE

Fixed after changing the below line within the application tag:

tools:replace="icon, label, theme"

to

tools:replace="android:icon, android:label, android:theme"

FIXED IT HAD THE EXACT ERROR, Just add this tools:replace="android:icon,android:theme"

into your application tag in your manifest, it works just fine,

Final Working Solution for me (Highlighted the tages in the sample code):

1. add the xmlns:tools line in the manifest tag
2. add tools:replace in the application tag

Example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="pagination.yoga.com.tamiltv"
    **xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"**
    >

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE" />

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme"
        **tools:replace="android:icon,android:theme"**
        >

You can replace those in your Manifest application tag:

<application
    tools:replace="android:icon, android:label, android:theme, android:name,android:allowBackup"
android:allowBackup="false"...>

and will work for you.

Try reordering your dependencies in your gradle file. I had to move the offending library from the bottom of the list to the top, and then it worked.

You can replace those in your Manifest application tag:

<application
    ...
    tools:replace="android:label, android:icon, android:theme"/>

and will work for you.

Explanation

Using such a dependency/library in your gradle file which has those labels in its Manifest's application tag may produce this problem and replacing them in your Manifest is the solution.

I just experienced the same behavior of tools:replace=... as described by the OP.

It turned out that the root cause for tools:replace being ignored by the manifest merger is a bug described here. It basically means that if you have a library in your project that contains a manifest with an <application ...> node containing a tools:ignore=... attribute, it can happen that the tools:replace=... attribute in the manifest of your main module will be ignored.

The tricky point here is that it can happen, but does not have to. In my case I had two libraries, library A with the tools:ignore=... attribute, library B with the attributes to be replaced in the respective manifests and the tools:replace=... attribute in the manifest of the main module. If the manifest of B was merged into the main manifest before the manifest of A everything worked as expected. In opposite merge order the error appeared.

The order in which these merges happen seems to be somewhat random. In my case changing the order in the dependencies section of build.gradle had no effect but changing the name of the flavor did it.

So, the only reliable workaround seems to be to unpack the problem causing library, remove the tools:ignore=... tag (which should be no problem as it is a hint for lint only) and pack the library again.

And vote for the bug to be fixed, of cause.

My problem is multi modules project with base module, app module and feature module. Each module has AndroidManifest of its own, and I implemented build variant for debug and main. So we must sure that "android:name" just declared in Manifest of debug and main only, and do not set it in any of Manifest in child module. Ex: Manifest in main:

 <application
        android:name=".App"/>

Manifest in debug:

<application
        tools:replace="android:name"
        android:name=".DebugApp"
        />

Do not set "android:name" in other Manifest files like this:

<application android:name=".App">

Just define in feature module like this and it will merged fine

<application> 

The missing piece for me was this:

xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"

for example:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    package="com.your.appid">

I also went through this problem and changed that:

<application  android:debuggable="true" android:icon="@drawable/app_icon" android:label="@string/app_name" android:supportsRtl="true" android:allowBackup="false" android:fullBackupOnly="false" android:theme="@style/UnityThemeSelector">

to

 <application tools:replace="android:allowBackup" android:debuggable="true" android:icon="@drawable/app_icon" android:label="@string/app_name" android:supportsRtl="true" android:allowBackup="false" android:fullBackupOnly="false" android:theme="@style/UnityThemeSelector">

The following hack works:

1. add the xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" line in the manifest tag
2. add tools:replace="android:icon,android:theme,android:allowBackup,label" in the application tag