title: Error when enabling MultiDex or ProGuard in Xamarin Studio
body: <p>I recently broke the Dalvik Limit (<a href="https://developer.android.com/studio/build/multidex.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://developer.android.com/studio/build/multidex.html</a>)
  of 64K referencs as I started getting </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/External/xbuild/Xamarin/Android/
    Xamarin.Android.Common.targets: Error: Tool exited with code: 2.
    Output: trouble writing output: Too many field references: 77369; max
    is 65536. You may try using --multi-dex option.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>error after updating some nugets to MonoDroid 7.</p>
  
  <p>When I turn on the MultiDex option in android settings and compile my project I get -</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/External/xbuild/Xamarin/Android/Xamarin.Android.Common.targets:
    Error: Tool exited with code: 10. Output: Error: Can't read
    [/Library/Frameworks/Xamarin.Android.framework/Versions/7.0.1-3/lib/xbuild-frameworks/MonoAndroid/v7.0/mono.android.jar]
    (Can't process class [android/app/ActivityTracker.class] (Unsupported
    class version number [52.0] (maximum 51.0, Java 1.7))) 
    (pjr.mob.android)</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I can see BUGs relating to this - </p>
  
  <p><a href="https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=44187" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=44187</a></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=44013" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=44013</a></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=33052" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=33052</a></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=35491" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=35491</a></p>
  
  <p>It looks like I have to manually download and install ProGuard 5.X as detailed in these answers - </p>
  
  <p><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39514518/xamarin-android-proguard-unsupported-class-version-number-52-0">Xamarin.Android Proguard - Unsupported class version number 52.0</a></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39106663/xamarin-android-proguard-enable">Xamarin Android ProGuard Enable</a></p>
  
  <p>and overcome any issues that arise from this.</p>
  
  <p>Yet, Xamarin Studio explicitly tells us in the (i) information box next to the proguard option is that it is not recommended to run proguard for a DEBUG build and that we should only run multidex after trying proguard first.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Will this mean we cannot debug effectively after enabling it?</strong> but I cannot DEBUG anyway (I cannot even run a release build even with the linker on which I thought might help) now without enabling it?</p>
  
  <p>Is there some kind of Xamarin Support coming for this or do I need to look at somehow reducing the packages etc that we use (I am not sure I can do as most of it is Google Play Services related).</p>
  
  <p>Any help is appreciated.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Other Info from Xamarin Studio Help > About</strong></p>
  
  <p>Java SDK: /usr
  java version "1.8.0_112"
  Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_112-b16)
  Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.112-b16, mixed mode)</p>