Question: In Gradle 8.10, apparently this doesn't compile:

val foo by if (condition) {
  tasks.registering
} else {
  tasks.registering(Foo::class)
}

and I would need to do this instead:

val foo by if (condition) {
  tasks.registering(DefaultTask::class)
} else {
  tasks.registering(Foo::class)
}

Is this a thing in newer versions of Gradle?

I'd swap that around to

val foo by tasks.registering(
    if (condition) DefaultTask::class else Foo::class
)

anyway, and in that form you can add a configuration block etc. to the call

Very limited though. Only things of interfaces that are in both task types. In the original form you can do the full

Foo

configuration. Without configuration block I agree though.