Expose the app's build name and number as compile-time constants by Ortes · Pull Request #187935 · flutter/flutter

Ortes · 2026-06-12T17:11:42Z

The tool already injects FLUTTER_VERSION, FLUTTER_CHANNEL, framework/engine revisions (exposed as FlutterVersion) and FLUTTER_APP_FLAVOR (exposed as appFlavor) as dart-defines. The application's own version: from pubspec.yaml is the one missing field, even though the tool already parses it (FlutterManifest.buildName/buildNumber) and embeds it into version.json, Info.plist and build.gradle on every build.

Without it, the running version is unknowable on the web: version.json is fetched from the server at runtime, so a stale cached client reports the freshly deployed version instead of its own, and version gates / update prompts built on package_info_plus silently fail for exactly the users they exist for (fluttercommunity/plus_plugins#2675).

This PR:

injects FLUTTER_BUILD_NAME and FLUTTER_BUILD_NUMBER (the app's pubspec version, overridable via --build-name/--build-number) in FlutterCommand.getBuildInfo, following the FLUTTER_APP_FLAVOR pattern including its reserved-name guards;
exposes them as appBuildName / appBuildNumber constants in package:flutter/services.dart (new src/services/app_version.dart, same style as flavor.dart / flutter_version.dart);
adds tool tests (injection from pubspec, no injection without a version, environment/dart-define collision guards) and framework tests.

Like all String.fromEnvironment constants, these are tree-shaken when unreferenced, so nothing ships in the binary unless the app reads them.

package_info_plus is ready to consume these defines (fluttercommunity/plus_plugins#3874), which would make the fix transparent for the ecosystem. A companion proposal for the pure-Dart side (dart compile, servers/CLIs) is dart-lang/sdk#38855 — neither subsumes the other, since Flutter does not build through dartdev.

Fixes #187934

Pre-launch Checklist

gemini-code-assist

Code Review

This pull request introduces 'appBuildName' and 'appBuildNumber' constants to the services library, allowing applications to access their build name and build number at runtime. These values are injected into 'dartDefines' during the build process, with validation to prevent users from manually overriding them. Feedback suggests refining the validation logic when checking existing 'dartDefines' to avoid false positives on custom variables that share a prefix with the framework-defined build variables.

…allbacks PackageInfoEnvironment now resolves the web version from, in order: PACKAGE_INFO_PLUS_VERSION (explicit), FLUTTER_BUILD_NAME (flutter/flutter#187935, injected by flutter_tools like FLUTTER_APP_FLAVOR), and dart.package.version (dart-lang/sdk#38855). Once either upstream proposal lands, apps need no configuration at all.

bkonyi

This generally LGTM with some minor comments. We'll also need someone from the framework to sign off on the changes to packages/flutter/.

loic-sharma · 2026-06-30T22:49:07Z

Hello @Ortes, apologies for the late review! This looks good to me, but let's add an integration test for the framework side (see this comment).

Also, could you rebase these changes off the latest master branch?

Once that's done, I'll kick off tests and get this landed! :)

loic-sharma

Thanks for the wonderful contribution!

Ortes · 2026-07-01T23:33:47Z

Thanks for the wonderful contribution!

Thanks for your amazing maintainer work!

Ortes · 2026-07-02T11:53:05Z

CI was red on the Linux and Mac_arm64 tool_tests_commands shards. Exposing FLUTTER_BUILD_NAME / FLUTTER_BUILD_NUMBER prepends two entries to the -Pdart-defines argument passed to Gradle, which broke the hardcoded command expectations in build_apk_test.dart (6 tests) and build_aar_test.dart (1 test).

Fixed in ab03bcb by adding the two defines to those expected dart-defines maps. The shard passes locally now.

The tool already injects FLUTTER_VERSION, FLUTTER_CHANNEL, framework and engine revisions (FlutterVersion) and FLUTTER_APP_FLAVOR (appFlavor) as dart-defines. The application's own version from pubspec.yaml is the one missing field, even though the tool already parses it (FlutterManifest.buildName/buildNumber) and embeds it into version.json, Info.plist and build.gradle. Without it, the running version is unknowable on the web: version.json is fetched from the server at runtime, so a stale cached client reports the freshly deployed version instead of its own. Version gates and update prompts built on package_info_plus silently fail for exactly the users they exist for. This injects FLUTTER_BUILD_NAME and FLUTTER_BUILD_NUMBER (from the --build-name/--build-number flags, falling back to the pubspec version) following the FLUTTER_APP_FLAVOR pattern, and exposes them as appBuildName/appBuildNumber constants in package:flutter/services.dart. Like all String.fromEnvironment constants they are tree-shaken when unreferenced, so nothing ships unless the app reads them.

User-provided defines that merely share a prefix with a reserved key (e.g. FLUTTER_BUILD_NAMESPACE vs FLUTTER_BUILD_NAME) no longer trip the reserved-key validation. Also fixes the same pre-existing prefix match on FLUTTER_APP_FLAVOR.

Verifies that a pubspec version is exposed via the appBuildName and appBuildNumber constants when running flutter test, mirroring the existing default_flavor_test.dart pattern.

…rt-defines FLUTTER_BUILD_NAME and FLUTTER_BUILD_NUMBER are now injected into the dart-defines passed to Gradle, which broke the hardcoded expectations in these command tests.

github-actions Bot added tool Affects the "flutter" command-line tool. See also t: labels. framework flutter/packages/flutter repository. See also f: labels. labels Jun 12, 2026

gemini-code-assist Bot reviewed Jun 12, 2026

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Comment thread packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/runner/flutter_command.dart Outdated

Ortes force-pushed the expose-build-name-defines branch from 58b0f53 to ebcb817 Compare June 15, 2026 11:23

bkonyi added team-framework Owned by Framework team team-tool Owned by Flutter Tool team labels Jun 16, 2026

bkonyi reviewed Jun 16, 2026

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Comment thread packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/runner/flutter_command.dart Outdated

Comment thread packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/runner/flutter_command.dart Outdated

kjxbyz mentioned this pull request Jun 18, 2026

Issues with the way appVersion is obtained fastforgedev/fastforge#207

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github-actions Bot removed the team-tool Owned by Flutter Tool team label Jun 18, 2026

Ortes force-pushed the expose-build-name-defines branch 2 times, most recently from 29b3949 to 72d3f13 Compare June 25, 2026 16:14

justinmc requested a review from loic-sharma June 30, 2026 22:25

loic-sharma reviewed Jun 30, 2026

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Comment thread packages/flutter/test/services/app_version_test.dart

Ortes force-pushed the expose-build-name-defines branch from 72d3f13 to d3a9a37 Compare June 30, 2026 23:16

loic-sharma previously approved these changes Jul 1, 2026

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loic-sharma added the CICD Run CI/CD label Jul 1, 2026

Ortes dismissed loic-sharma’s stale review via ab03bcb July 2, 2026 10:44

flutter-dashboard Bot removed the CICD Run CI/CD label Jul 2, 2026

Ortes added 4 commits July 2, 2026 08:03

Extract reserved dart-define check into a helper

5b06cf2

Add integration test for appBuildName and appBuildNumber

79ff6fe

Verifies that a pubspec version is exposed via the appBuildName and appBuildNumber constants when running flutter test, mirroring the existing default_flavor_test.dart pattern.

Update build_apk_test and build_aar_test for new build name/number da…

2bb1531

…rt-defines FLUTTER_BUILD_NAME and FLUTTER_BUILD_NUMBER are now injected into the dart-defines passed to Gradle, which broke the hardcoded expectations in these command tests.

Ortes force-pushed the expose-build-name-defines branch from ab03bcb to 2bb1531 Compare July 2, 2026 12:22

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Expose the app's build name and number as compile-time constants#187935

Expose the app's build name and number as compile-time constants#187935
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Ortes:expose-build-name-defines

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