Gradle includeBuild vs implementation project - gradle

Question

What is the key difference between includeBuild(...) and implementation(project(...)) in the Gradle build system? I cannot really see the usecase difference after reading the documentation:
https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/declaring_dependencies.html#sub:project_dependencies
https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/composite_builds.html#separate_composite
What I am trying to do: Share same codebase for two separate projects: data classes (kotlix.serialization), external database dao, interfaces. It is not a full library but just some code snippets.
How can I connect the two projects in Intellij so that type hinting works?

Answer 1

Composite Build (by using includeBuild) is a way to create a dependency between autonomous Gradle Projects.
Project import, is a way to create a dependency between two modules within a same Gradle Project.
Composite Build is far more powerful and is also meant to be the new way of factorizing gradle configuration between multiple projects that you traditionally do with the buildSrc technique.
I found this "Structuring Large Projects" article to be easier to read than the "Composite Builds" doc.
An excellent sample project that demonstrates the power of Composite Builds can be found in Gradle sample_structuring_software_projects.
Project dependency case
The tree would look like this:
settings.gradle.kts
module1/build.gradle.kts
module2/build.gradle.kts
And you are declaring a dependency in module1/build.gradle.kts like this:
dependencies {
implementation(project("com.domain:module2"))
}
The dependency will be resolved only if both projects are declared as sub-modules of a common root project.
It means you have a root settings.gradle.kts like this:
rootProject.name = "rootProject"
include(":module1")
include(":module2")
Composite build case
The projects do not need to have common "umbrella" root project.
Each project is a totally independent project.
One project can simply declare a dependency on the other project (without even the target project knowing about it).
Tree:
project1/build.gradle.kts
project1/settings.gradle.kts
project2/build.gradle.kts
project2/settings.gradle.kts
In project1/settings.gradle.kts:
rootProject.name = "project1"
includeBuild("../project2") //No more ':' as it is not a module
In project2/settings.gradle.kts:
rootProject.name = "project2"
In project1/build.gradle.kts like this:
dependencies {
implementation("com.domain:project2")
}

Answer 2

I have the same problem. Reading on the first link, the next para says:
Local forks of module dependencies
A module dependency can be substituted by a dependency to a local fork
of the sources of that module, if the module itself is built with
Gradle. This can be done by utilising composite builds. This allows
you, for example, to fix an issue in a library you use in an
application by using, and building, a locally patched version instead
of the published binary version. The details of this are described in
the section on composite builds.
So, it should be implementation project according to me.
P.S. The code completion is working on one of my sub project but not on the other. I am still trying to figure that out