If you declare an api dependency (but never reference it) or you declare a runtime dependency on an artifact whose Java bytecode is a higher version than yours, the check tasks do not flag it.

I'm not sure the way to validate this:

• If the artifact has Gradle module metadata that could be checked.
• Failing that, all class files (except those in META-INF/versions/) should be checked.
• And maybe even if the artifact has Gradle module metadata the plugin should still validate the class files.