Merge branch '2.4.x'

Closes gh-26330

spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/gradle/junit/GradleCompatibilityExtension.java

@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ final class GradleCompatibilityExtension implements TestTemplateInvocationContex
 			GRADLE_VERSIONS = Arrays.asList("7.0");
 		}
 		else {
-			GRADLE_VERSIONS = Arrays.asList("current", "7.0");
+			GRADLE_VERSIONS = Arrays.asList("current", "6.9-rc-1", "7.0");
 		}
 	}
 

spring-boot-project/spring-boot-tools/spring-boot-gradle-plugin/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/gradle/testkit/GradleBuild.java

@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ public class GradleBuild {
 			scriptContent = scriptContent.replace("{" + property.getKey() + "}", property.getValue());
 		}
 		FileCopyUtils.copy(scriptContent, new FileWriter(new File(this.projectDir, "build" + this.dsl.getExtension())));
+		new File(this.projectDir, "settings.gradle").createNewFile();
 		FileSystemUtils.copyRecursively(new File("src/test/resources/repository"),
 				new File(this.projectDir, "repository"));
 		GradleRunner gradleRunner = GradleRunner.create().withProjectDir(this.projectDir)