I have a subproject with a script similar to this one here:

task myArchive(type: Zip) {
  // create some archive here
}

configurations {
    installer
}

artifacts {
    installer myArchive
}

uploadInstaller {
    uploadDescriptor = false
    repositories { flatDir dirs : 'C:/somewhere' }
}

Let's pretend that this project builds customized zip archives. Notice there isn't any "apply plugin: java".

build'Configuration' and upload'Configuration' do not exist unless one imports base plugin with "apply plugin: base". "Artifact management" chapter of documentation is not clear about this issue. How it is written this should work without any plugin.

Importing base plugin makes build'Configuration' and upload'Configuration' tasks available, however those tasks, and 'myArchive' task from script are hidden from list given by running "gradle tasks"