android - EmptyThrowable: The APK file *.apk does not exist on disk

Question

This is an Android application using gradle. After clicking Run, I found APP_V1.3.4_2016-02-22_11:30:29_google_play.apk in outputs/apk, but the event log says:

11:30:31 EmptyThrowable: The APK file /.../WorkSpace/Android/.../app/build/outputs/apk/APP_V1.3.4_2016-02-22_11:30:14_google_play.apk does not exist on disk.

11:30:32 Session 'app': Error Installing APK

Here is my build.gradle file:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

def releaseTime() {
    return new Date().format("yyyy-MM-dd_HH:mm:ss",
        TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT+08:00"))
}

android {
    compileSdkVersion 'Google Inc.:Google APIs:23'
    buildToolsVersion "23.0.2"

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.example"
        minSdkVersion 14
        targetSdkVersion 23
        versionCode 29
        versionName "1.3.4"
        manifestPlaceholders = [SOME_CHANNEL_VALUE: "some_channel"]
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
    signingConfigs {
        debug {}

        release {
            // ...
        }
    }

    buildTypes {
        debug {
            zipAlignEnabled true
            minifyEnabled false
            shrinkResources true
        }

        release {
            zipAlignEnabled true
            minifyEnabled true
            shrinkResources true
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'),
                'proguard-rules.pro'
            signingConfig signingConfigs.release

            applicationVariants.all { variant ->

                def time = releaseTime()

                variant.outputs.each { output ->
                    def apk = output.outputFile
                    def endFileName = "${time}_${variant.productFlavors[0].name}.apk"

                    if (apk != null &&
                        apk.name.endsWith('.apk') &&
                        !apk.name.endsWith('${endFileName}')) {
                        def fileName = "APP_V${defaultConfig.versionName}_${endFileName}"
                        output.outputFile = new File(apk.parentFile, fileName)
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    productFlavors {
        google_play {
            manifestPlaceholders = [SOME_CHANNEL_VALUE: "google_play"]
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    // ...
}

So is there any wrong with releaseTime()?

Answer 1

In my case the problem was that the name of the apk to be installed was cached, so everytime I tried running the app, an apk with today's date was generated but when installing, Android Studio looked for an apk file with an old name. The solution was to click Sync Gradle and then Build > Rebuild Project. You may also want to delete folders app/apks and app//build/outputs/apk previously.