cleanup:
        unreadableDir.setReadable(true)
    }

    def getDisableStateTrackingLink() {
        documentationRegistry.getDocumentationRecommendationFor("information", "incremental_build", "sec:disable-state-tracking")
    }

    def "does not clean up stale outputs for untracked tasks"() {
        def untrackedStaleFile = file("build/untracked/stale-output-file").createFile()

Note that <<incremental_build.adoc#incremental_build,command line order safety>> relies on tasks properly declaring what they create, consume, or remove.

[[sec:excluding_tasks_from_the_command_line]]
=== Excluding tasks from execution

= Advanced Tasks

[[incremental_tasks]]
== Incremental tasks

In Gradle, implementing a task that skips execution when its inputs and outputs are already `UP-TO-DATE` is simple and efficient, thanks to the <<incremental_build.adoc#incremental_build,Incremental Build>> feature.

However, there are times when only a few input files have changed since the last execution, and it is best to avoid reprocessing all the unchanged inputs.

                .withAdvice("Declare the task as untracked by using Task.doNotTrackState().");
        }
        return builder.withUserManual("incremental_build", "sec:disable-state-tracking")
            .build(cause);
    }

    @Override
    public OverlappingOutputHandling getOverlappingOutputHandling() {
        return OverlappingOutputHandling.DETECT_OVERLAPS;

include::sample[dir="snippets/java/application/groovy",files="build.gradle[tags=distribution-spec]"]
====

By specifying that the distribution should include the task's output files (see <<incremental_build.adoc#sec:task_inputs_outputs, incremental builds>>), Gradle knows that the task that produces the files must be invoked before the distribution can be assembled and will take care of this for you.

            "Use a Copy task with Task.doNotTrackState() instead. " +
            documentationRegistry.getDocumentationRecommendationFor("information", "incremental_build", "sec:disable-state-tracking"))
        failureHasCause("Failed to create MD5 hash for file '${unreadableOutput}' as it does not exist.")

        cleanup:
        unreadableOutput.makeReadable()
    }

====
include::sample[dir="snippets/tasks/incrementalBuild-customTaskClass/kotlin",files="build.gradle.kts[tags=ad-hoc-task]"]
include::sample[dir="snippets/tasks/incrementalBuild-customTaskClass/groovy",files="build.gradle[tags=ad-hoc-task]"]
====

For more information about incremental builds, check out the
<<incremental_build.adoc#incremental_build,incremental build documentation>>.

====

Writing and using <<more_about_tasks.adoc#sec:task_groups,custom task types>> is recommended when developing plugins as it automatically benefits from <<incremental_build.adoc#incremental_build,incremental builds>>.

You can use an interface or abstract class declaring the getters and Gradle will generate the implementation.
All getters need to have proper input annotations, see <<incremental_build.adoc#table:incremental_build_annotations,incremental build annotations>> table.

You can easily create Java properties files via the link:{groovyDslPath}/org.gradle.api.tasks.WriteProperties.html[WriteProperties] task, which fixes a well-known problem with `Properties.store()` that can reduce the usefulness of <<incremental_build.adoc#incremental_build,incremental builds>>.