Gradle unable to resolve Guava in a project, with a VariantSelectionByAttributesException error #8398

Guava Version

33.5.0

Description

In a gradle project I have a build that uses some Java tooling as part of its
build machinery, but is not, itself, a Java project. One of the tooling
dependencies (javaparser) has a dependency on Guava.

For historical reasons that project's build.gradle.kts applied the
java-library plugin. When I removed it because its default tasks were causing
problems with other tasks and, as noted, no Java artifacts were being produced,
the build failed with an error:

Variant Selection Exception: 
 org.gradle.internal.component.resolution.failure.exception.VariantSelectionByAttributesException 
 caused by Resolution Failure: 
 org.gradle.internal.component.resolution.failure.type.NoCompatibleVariantsFailure

Gradle can no longer resolve a Guava variant that it can use. Note that javaparser is explicitly depending on the -jre Guava version. (https://github.com/javaparser/javaparser/blob/11a99ae61df28b19fb9b64e5f7c216fa71dc4020/pom.xml#L432-L437)

There's a minimal repro here: https://github.com/Saxonica/guava-variant-problem

This project contains two Gradle sub-projects, java_lib and
non_java whose build.gradle.kts differ only in the plugin they apply.

non_java applies the base plugin, and java_lib applies the java-library
plugin. They both contain a simple configuration which declares a dependency on
Guava.

Running ./gradlew java_lib:dependencies shows that Guava resolves fine, and
./gradlew non_java:depdendencies shows the failure.

This is defintely unexpected behvaiour, and seems like buggy behaviour, though I
am really not sure if this is a Gradle problem or a Guava Gradle metadata
problem.

I imagine this is related to #7059, #6801 and friends

Example

Clone https://github.com/Saxonica/guava-variant-problem and run the following:
./gradlew non_java:dependencies`

Expected Behavior

A properly resolved dependency tree, whose macguffin configuration's dependency tree should be identical to the result of running ./gradlew java_lib:dependencies:

> Task :non_java:dependencies
------------------------------------------------------------
Project ':non_java'
------------------------------------------------------------
macguffin
\--- com.google.guava:guava:33.6.0-jre
 +--- com.google.guava:failureaccess:1.0.3
 +--- com.google.guava:listenablefuture:9999.0-empty-to-avoid-conflict-with-guava
 +--- org.jspecify:jspecify:1.0.0
 +--- com.google.errorprone:error_prone_annotations:2.47.0
 \--- com.google.j2objc:j2objc-annotations:3.1
macguffinRuntime (n)
\--- com.google.guava:guava:33.6.0-jre (n)
(n) - A dependency or dependency configuration that cannot be resolved.
A web-based, searchable dependency report is available by adding the --scan option.
BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 414ms

Actual Behavior

> Task :non_java:dependencies
------------------------------------------------------------
Project ':non_java'
------------------------------------------------------------
macguffin
\--- com.google.guava:guava:33.6.0-jre FAILED
macguffinRuntime (n)
\--- com.google.guava:guava:33.6.0-jre (n)
(n) - A dependency or dependency configuration that cannot be resolved.
A web-based, searchable dependency report is available by adding the --scan option.
BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 414ms

Packages

No response

Platforms

No response

Checklist

• I agree to follow the code of conduct.

• I can reproduce the bug with the latest version of Guava available.