Reported on the forums at: https://discuss.gradle.org/t/task-ordering-problem-mustrunafter-finalizer-dependencies/14035

I have one task (let's call it "B") that is finalized by another (called "C"), but which also "must run after" a third ("A"). However, "C" also depends on "A", so calling "gradle B" invokes all three tasks to run as follows:

B --> is finalized by --> C --> which depends on --> A

However, due to the "must run after" relationship between B and A, I would expect A to execute first, but it doesn't.

Here is a sample build.gradle to reproduce the problem:

{{task A

task B

task C

}}

Here is the result I would expect when calling "gradle B":

{{:A UP-TO-DATE
:B UP-TO-DATE
:C UP-TO-DATE}}

But, I actually get:

{{:B UP-TO-DATE
:A UP-TO-DATE
:C UP-TO-DATE}}

with B executing before A, even through B "must run after" A. If I run "gradle B A" instead, the tasks execute in the correct order - it seems to occur only when A's execution is invoked by a "finalizer" dependency. Interestingly, the task graph as printed with the --info flag shows the tasks in the correct order, but they are then executed differently.