java.lang.NullPointerException (no error message) APK building
I had the same issue after adding:
compileOptions { sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8 targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8}
It was because my default java version was 10:
$ java -versionjava version "10.0.1" 2018-04-17
After changing to 1.8 (with sudo update-alternatives --config java) issue was fixed.