title: ClassCastException while upgrading to Gradle 4.1
body: <p>I use the following Gradle distribution:</p>
  
  <pre><code>distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-4.1-bin.zip
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When using above version of Gradle, It's giving me the ClassCastException when I run below command.</p>
  
  <pre><code>./gradlew dependencyUpdates --stacktrace
  
       * What went wrong:
       Execution failed for task ':app:dependencyUpdates'.
       &gt; java.lang.String cannot be cast to org.gradle.api.internal.artifacts.ivyservice.ivyresolve.strategy.Version
  
       * Try:
       Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.
  
       * Exception is:
       org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskExecutionException: Execution failed for task ':app:dependencyUpdates'.
               at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeActions(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:100)
               at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.execute(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:70)
               at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipUpToDateTaskExecuter.execute(SkipUpToDateTaskExecuter.java:63)
               at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ResolveTaskOutputCachingStateExecuter.execute(ResolveTaskOutputCachingStateExecuter.java:54)
               at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ValidatingTaskExecuter.execute(ValidatingTaskExecuter.java:58)
               at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipEmptySourceFilesTaskExecuter.execute(SkipEmptySourceFilesTaskExecuter.java:88)
               at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ResolveTaskArtifactStateTaskExecuter.execute(ResolveTaskArtifactStateTaskExecuter.java:52)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipTaskWithNoActionsExecuter.execute(SkipTaskWithNoActionsExecuter.java:52)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipOnlyIfTaskExecuter.execute(SkipOnlyIfTaskExecuter.java:54)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteAtMostOnceTaskExecuter.execute(ExecuteAtMostOnceTaskExecuter.java:43)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.CatchExceptionTaskExecuter.execute(CatchExceptionTaskExecuter.java:34)
              at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskGraphExecuter$EventFiringTaskWorker$1.run(DefaultTaskGraphExecuter.java:248)
              at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:336)
              at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:328)
              at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:197)
              at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:107)
              at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskGraphExecuter$EventFiringTaskWorker.execute(DefaultTaskGraphExecuter.java:241)
              at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskGraphExecuter$EventFiringTaskWorker.execute(DefaultTaskGraphExecuter.java:230)
              at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker.processTask(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:124)
              at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker.access$200(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:80)
              at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker$1.execute(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:105)
              at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker$1.execute(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:99)
              at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskExecutionPlan.execute(DefaultTaskExecutionPlan.java:625)
              at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskExecutionPlan.executeWithTask(DefaultTaskExecutionPlan.java:580)
              at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker.run(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:99)
              at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ExecutorPolicy$CatchAndRecordFailures.onExecute(ExecutorPolicy.java:63)
              at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ManagedExecutorImpl$1.run(ManagedExecutorImpl.java:46)
              at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ThreadFactoryImpl$ManagedThreadRunnable.run(ThreadFactoryImpl.java:55)
      Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: java.lang.String cannot be cast to
  org.gradle.api.internal.artifacts.ivyservice.ivyresolve.strategy.Version
              at org.gradle.api.internal.artifacts.ivyservice.ivyresolve.strategy.StaticVersionComparator.compare(StaticVersionComparator.java:25)
              at java_util_Comparator$compare.call(Unknown Source)
              at com.github.benmanes.gradle.versions.updates.VersionComparator.compare(VersionComparator.groovy:49)
              at com.github.benmanes.gradle.versions.updates.VersionComparator$compare.call(Unknown Source)
              at com.github.benmanes.gradle.versions.updates.Resolver.&lt;init&gt;(Resolver.groovy:53)
              at com.github.benmanes.gradle.versions.updates.DependencyUpdates$_run_closure2.doCall(DependencyUpdates.groovy:57)
              at com.github.benmanes.gradle.versions.updates.DependencyUpdates.run(DependencyUpdates.groovy:56)
              at com.github.benmanes.gradle.versions.updates.DependencyUpdates$run.call(Unknown Source)
              at com.github.benmanes.gradle.versions.updates.DependencyUpdatesTask.dependencyUpdates(DependencyUpdatesTask.groovy:54)
              at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaMethod.invoke(JavaMethod.java:73)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.DefaultTaskClassInfoStore$StandardTaskAction.doExecute(DefaultTaskClassInfoStore.java:141)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.DefaultTaskClassInfoStore$StandardTaskAction.execute(DefaultTaskClassInfoStore.java:134)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.DefaultTaskClassInfoStore$StandardTaskAction.execute(DefaultTaskClassInfoStore.java:121)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.AbstractTask$TaskActionWrapper.execute(AbstractTask.java:731)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.AbstractTask$TaskActionWrapper.execute(AbstractTask.java:705)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter$1.run(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:122)
              at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:336)
              at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:328)
              at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:197)
              at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:107)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeAction(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:111)
              at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeActions(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:92)
              ... 27 more
  
  
      * Get more help at https://help.gradle.org
  </code></pre>