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https://github.com/dlew/joda-time-android

Joda-Time library with Android specialization
https://github.com/dlew/joda-time-android

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Joda-Time library with Android specialization

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joda-time-android

=================



This library is a version of [Joda-Time](https://github.com/JodaOrg/joda-time) built with Android in mind.



Why Joda-Time?

==============



Android has built-in date and time handling - why bother with a library?  If you've worked with Java's Date and Calendar classes you can probably answer this question yourself, but if not, check out [Joda-Time's list of benefits](http://www.joda.org/joda-time/#Why_Joda-Time).



For Android developers Joda-Time solves one critical problem: stale timezone data.  Built-in timezone data is only updated when the OS is updated, and we all know how often that happens.  [Countries modify](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15512177) [their timezones](http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/samoa-to-move-the-international-dateline/story-e6frf7jx-1226051660380) [all the](http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070207/LOCAL190108/702070524/0/LOCAL) [time](http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKBLA65048420070916); being able to update your own tz data keeps your app up-to-date and accurate.



Why This Library?

=================



I know what you are thinking: Joda-Time is a great library and it's just a single JAR, so why make things more complex by wrapping it in an Android library?



There is a particular problem with the JAR setup on Android: due to its usage of [ClassLoader.getResourceAsStream()](http://developer.android.com/reference/java/lang/ClassLoader.html#getResourceAsStream%28java.lang.String%29), it greatly inflates its memory footprint on apps.  (For more details, see [this blog post](http://blog.danlew.net/2013/08/20/joda_time_s_memory_issue_in_android/).)  This library avoids the problem for Android by loading from resources instead of a JAR.



This library also has extra utilities designed for Android.  For example, see [DateUtils](library/src/main/java/net/danlew/android/joda/DateUtils.java), a port of Android's [DateUtils](http://developer.android.com/reference/android/text/format/DateUtils.html).



Usage

=====



Add the following dependency to `build.gradle`:



```groovy

dependencies {

    implementation 'net.danlew:android.joda:2.12.7'

}

```



Multi-Process Apps

===============



Due to using App Startup, joda-time-android will not automatically initialize in non-main processes.



If you would like to automatically run App Startup in other processes, add this to your manifest:



```xml



```



Alternatively, you can call [`AppInitializer`](https://developer.android.com/reference/kotlin/androidx/startup/AppInitializer) directly to initialize just joda-time-android:



```kotlin

AppInitializer.getInstance(this).initializeComponent(JodaTimeInitializer::class.java)

```



Troubleshooting

===============

__Q: My build fails with an error about a duplicate file__



> Duplicate files copied in APK META-INF/LICENSE.txt



or



> Duplicate files copied in APK META-INF/NOTICE.txt



__A: We can safely exclude those files from our build. You need to specify these two `exclude`s in your `build.gradle` file and you will be good to go:__



```

android {

    ...

    packagingOptions {

        exclude 'META-INF/LICENSE.txt'

        exclude 'META-INF/NOTICE.txt'

    }

}

```



or 



__B: We can safely choose to add those files to our build. You need to specify these two `merge`s in your `build.gradle` file and you will be good to go:__



```

android {

    ...

    packagingOptions {

        merge '**/LICENSE.txt'

        merge '**/NOTICE.txt'

    }

}

```