Installing Gradle

Let's start by installing Gradle using the GVM tool we used in the last chapter. Installing Gradle is simplicity itself if you have followed the instructions from Chapter 2, Groovy Quick Start, to install the GVM tool. Just issue the following GVM command:

$gvm install gradle

This will install the latest available version of Gradle into your environment. The Gradle developers, Gradleware, have a policy of first deprecating old features and then removing them entirely. So, to avoid any future compatibility issues, you can use the GVM tool to install the version of Gradle used when this book was written as follows:

$gvm install gradle 2.4

If you already have Gradle installed with a different version you can switch versions as follows:

$gvm use gradle 2.4

GVM takes care of all the detail of installing Gradle and setting up the path and GRADLE_HOME environment for you. If you are not using the GVM tool, you can find the Gradle installation packages at http://www.gradle.org/downloads. Then configure the Gradle environment by following the instructions at http://www.gradle.org/docs/current/userguide/installation.html.