Exception caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.reactivestreams.Publisher

Question

In a JavaFX Gradle-based application that I develop using RxJava and Kotlin in IntelliJ IDEA 2017.1.2 (Build #IC-171.4249.39), I'm getting an exception:

Exception in thread "JavaFX Application Thread" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/reactivestreams/Publisher

everytime a code like this

return Completable.complete()

is executed. Following a suggestion of a similar question Why I am getting NoClassDefFoundError: org/reactivestreams/Publisher, I've tried to add include the reactive-streams to the dependencies block of my build.gradle script

dependencies {
    compile 'org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2'
    compile 'org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0'
    compile 'io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxkotlin:2.0.0'
}

but the problem persists. The dependency tree looks like this one:

compile - Dependencies for source set 'main' (deprecated, use 'implementation ' instead).
+--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2
|    \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0
+--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
\--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxkotlin:2.0.0
     +--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:2.0.7
     |    \--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
     \--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.0 -> 1.1.2 (*)

compileClasspath - Compile classpath for source set 'main'.
+--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2
|    \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0
+--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
\--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxkotlin:2.0.0
     +--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:2.0.7
     |    \--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
     \--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.0 -> 1.1.2 (*)

+--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2
|    \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0
+--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
\--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxkotlin:2.0.0
     +--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:2.0.7
     |    \--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
     \--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.0 -> 1.1.2 (*)

\--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-annotation-processing:1.1.2
     \--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2
          \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0

kaptTest
\--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-annotation-processing:1.1.2
     \--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2
          \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0

runtime - Runtime dependencies for source set 'main' (deprecated, use 'runtimeOnly ' instead).
+--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2
|    \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0
+--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
\--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxkotlin:2.0.0
     +--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:2.0.7
     |    \--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
     \--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.0 -> 1.1.2 (*)

runtimeClasspath - Runtime classpath of source set 'main'.
+--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2
|    \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0
+--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
\--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxkotlin:2.0.0
     +--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:2.0.7
     |    \--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
     \--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.0 -> 1.1.2 (*)

testCompile - Dependencies for source set 'test' (deprecated, use 'testImplementation ' instead).
+--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2
|    \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0
+--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
\--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxkotlin:2.0.0
     +--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:2.0.7
     |    \--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
     \--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.0 -> 1.1.2 (*)

testCompileClasspath - Compile classpath for source set 'test'.
+--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2
|    \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0
+--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
\--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxkotlin:2.0.0
     +--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:2.0.7
     |    \--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
     \--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.0 -> 1.1.2 (*)

testRuntime - Runtime dependencies for source set 'test' (deprecated, use 'testRuntimeOnly ' instead).
+--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2
|    \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0
+--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
\--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxkotlin:2.0.0
     +--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:2.0.7
     |    \--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
     \--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.0 -> 1.1.2 (*)

testRuntimeClasspath - Runtime classpath of source set 'test'.
+--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.2
|    \--- org.jetbrains:annotations:13.0
+--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
\--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxkotlin:2.0.0
     +--- io.reactivex.rxjava2:rxjava:2.0.7
     |    \--- org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams:1.0.0
     \--- org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:1.1.0 -> 1.1.2 (*)

As you can see, org.reactivestreams:reactive-streams is present in each environment.

Now, I've managed to resolve the problem by adding manually dependency on a reactive-streams-1.0.0.jar, but I don't like this solution at all.

Could somebody advice a better solution? Thanks!