Explode WAR file with Distribution plugin

The solution is to add a configuration in myWebApp that resolves to a directory containing the exploded web application.

In “myWebApp”, build.gradle:

plugins {
  id 'war'
  id 'eclipse'
}
configurations {
  explodedWebApp
}
dependencies {
    // snip
}

war {
    archiveFileName = 'myWebApp.war'
}

task explodeWar(type: Sync) {
   into "$buildDir/exploded/myWebApp"
   with war
}

artifacts {
  explodedWebApp file("$buildDir/exploded"), { builtBy explodeWar }
}

Then, in distribution’s build.gradle, change the dependencies to refer to the explodedWebApp configuration:

dependencies {
  warFiles project(path: ':myWebApp, configuration: 'explodedWebApp')
}

The resulting distribution now contains the exploded web application in somedirectory/webapps