Xamarin proguard.ParseException: Unknown option '' in line 1 of file 'Properties/proguard.cfg'

Question

I\'m trying to use proguard with Xamarin. So I enabled it in project options (checked Enable ProGuard), and I created a file proguard.cfg in Proper

Answer 1

I added this section of the docs awhile back to mention that you need to remove the BOM(Byte order mark):

Note: If you get an error like the following, then your configuration file contains a byte order mark (BOM), which the ProGuard tool cannot handle:

Unknown option '-keep' in line 1 of file 'proguard.cfg'

To prevent this problem, save your custom configuration file from a text editor that allows you to omit the BOM. For example, if you are saving from Notepad++, you can use the Encoding > Encode in UTF-8 Without BOM option to save your ProGuard configuration file without BOM.

https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/android/deployment,_testing,_and_metrics/publishing_an_application/part_1_-_preparing_an_application_for_release/#ProGuard

By all means you can use whatever method you'd like to remove the BOM. Notepad++ makes it pretty simple. Adding the full solution here to help others for visibility.

EDIT:

The proper link can be found here:

https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/android/deployment,_testing,_and_metrics/proguard/#File_Issues

Answer 2

The byte order mark can also be removed from the file with the following perl command :

perl -e 's/\xef\xbb\xbf//;' -pi~ proguard.cfg