You can define the signing configuration to sign the apk in the build.gradle file using these properties:

• storeFile : the keystore file
• storePassword: the keystore password
• keyAlias: a key alias name
• keyPassword: A key alias password

In many case you may need to avoid this kind of info in the build.gradle file.

Method A: Configure release signing using a keystore.properties file

It’s possible to configure your app’s build.gradle so that it will read your signing configuration information from a properties file like keystore.properties.

Setting up signing like this is beneficial because:

• Your signing configuration information is separate from your build.gradle file
• You do not have to intervene during the signing process in order to provide passwords for your keystore file
• You can easily exclude the keystore.properties file from version control

First, create a file called keystore.properties in the root of your project with content like this (replacing the values with your own):

storeFile=keystore.jks
storePassword=storePassword
keyAlias=keyAlias
keyPassword=keyPassword

Now, in your app’s build.gradle file, set up the signingConfigs block as follows:

android {
...

signingConfigs { release { def propsFile = rootProject.file(‘keystore.properties’) if (propsFile.exists()) { def props = new Properties() props.load(new FileInputStream(propsFile)) storeFile = file(props[‘storeFile’]) storePassword = props[‘storePassword’] keyAlias = props[‘keyAlias’] keyPassword = props[‘keyPassword’] } } }

}

That’s really all there is to it, but don’t forget to exclude both your keystore file and your keystore.properties file from version control.

A couple of things to note: