How to exclude a file from an .AAR Android library archive with gradle

Think it is related to this issue. Generally you could try with:

• Source set excludes
• Packaging options
• Aapt options

I couldn't get either of them to work though.

That said, you could make some ugly hacks like this:

def filterVariant = { variantToFilter, filterTask->
        def vv = android.sourceSets."${variantToFilter}".res.srcDirs
        println "${variantToFilter} --> ${vv*.toString()}"

        def variantRes = android.sourceSets."${variantToFilter}".res
        variantRes.srcDirs.each{ resDir->
            def filterOutput = "${buildDir}/res-filter"
            if (resDir.toString().contains(filterOutput)) {
                return
            }

            println "begin filter ${resDir} to ${filterOutput}/${variantToFilter}"

            filterTask.from fileTree(dir: resDir, exclude: '**/comment.txt')
            filterTask.into "${filterOutput}/${variantToFilter}"


            variantRes.srcDirs = ["${filterOutput}/${variantToFilter}"]
        }
    }

    project.task('filterMainResources', type: Copy) {
        filterVariant 'main', it
    }

    android.libraryVariants.all{ variant ->
        project.task("filter${variant.name}Resources", type: Copy) { filterTask ->
            filterVariant "${variant.name}", filterTask
            filterTask.dependsOn "filterMainResources"
        }
        variant.mergeResources.dependsOn("filter${variant.name}Resources")
    }