• Introduction
• Installing Apache Ant
• Using Apache Ant
• Running Apache Ant
• Apache Ant Tasks
• Concepts and Types
• Loggers & Listeners
• Developing with Apache Ant
• Tutorials
• Apache Ant API
Hierarchy For All Packages (Overview Tree)
Deprecated API
Index All (A-Z)
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
addC | addF | addR | AN | Co | cr | getC | getD | getG | getM | getP | getS | getV
setB | setD | setE | setF | setG | setJ | setN | setP | setR | setS | setT | setV | SP
Help
All Classes
Constant Field Values
• Feedback and Troubleshooting
• Editor/IDE Integration
• Authors
• License

Introduction

Apache Ant is a Java-based build tool. In theory, it is kind of likemake, without make's wrinkles.

Why?

Why another build tool when there is alreadymake,gnumake,nmake,jam,andothers? Because all those tools have limitations that Ant's original authorcouldn't live with when developing software across multiple platforms.Make-liketools are inherently shell-based: they evaluate a set of dependencies,then execute commands not unlike what you would issue on a shell.This means that youcan easily extend these tools by using or writing any program for the OS thatyou are working on; however, this also means that you limit yourself to the OS,or at least the OS type, such as Unix, that you are working on.

Makefiles are inherently evil as well. Anybody who has worked on them for anytime has run into the dreaded tab problem. "Is my command not executingbecause I have a space in front of my tab?!!" said the original author ofAnt way too many times. Tools like Jam took care of this to a great degree, butstill have yet another format to use and remember.

Ant is different. Instead of a model where it is extended with shell-basedcommands, Ant is extended using Java classes. Instead of writing shell commands,the configuration files are XML-based, calling out a target tree where varioustasks get executed. Each task is run by an object that implements a particularTask interface.

Granted, this removes some of the expressive power that is inherent in beingable to construct a shell command such as`find . -name foo -exec rm {}`, but itgives you the ability to be cross-platform--to work anywhere andeverywhere. Andhey, if you really need to execute a shell command, Ant has an<exec> task thatallows different commands to be executed based on the OS it is executingon.

Installing Apache Ant

• Getting Ant
• System Requirements
• Installing Ant
• Check Installation
• Optional Tasks
• Building Ant
• Library Dependencies
• Platform Specific Issues
• Proxy configuration

Using Apache Ant

• Writing a Simple Buildfile
Projects
Targets
Tasks
Properties
Built-in Properties
Property Helpers
Example Buildfile
Token Filters
Path-like Structures
Command-line Arguments
References
Use of external tasks

Running Apache Ant

• Command Line
Options
Library Directories
Files
Environment Variables
Java System Properties
Cygwin Users
OS/2 Users
Running "in the background"
• Running Ant via Java

Apache Ant Tasks

• Overview of Ant Tasks
• List of Tasks
Library Dependencies

Tasks

• Ant
• AntCall
• ANTLR
• AntStructure
• AntVersion
• Apply/ExecOn
• Apt
• Attrib
• Augment
• Available
• Basename
• Bindtargets
• BuildNumber
• BUnzip2
• BZip2
• Cab
• Continuus/Synergy Tasks
• CvsChangeLog
• Checksum
• Chgrp
• Chmod
• Chown
• Clearcase Tasks
• Componentdef
• Concat
• Condition
Supported conditions
• Copy
• Copydir
• Copyfile
• Cvs
• CVSPass
• CvsTagDiff
• CvsVersion
• Defaultexcludes
• Delete
• Deltree
• Depend
• Dependset
• Diagnostics
• Dirname
• Ear
• Echo
• Echoproperties
• EchoXML
• EJB Tasks
• Exec
• Fail
• Filter
• FixCRLF
• FTP
• GenKey
• Get
• GUnzip
• GZip
• Hostinfo
• Image
• Import
• Include
• Input
• Jar
• Jarlib-available
• Jarlib-display
• Jarlib-manifest
• Jarlib-resolve
• Java
• Javac
• JavaCC
• Javadoc/Javadoc2
• Javah
• JDepend
• JJDoc
• JJTree
• Jlink
• JspC
• JUnit
• JUnitReport
• Length
  
• LoadFile
• LoadProperties
• LoadResource
• Local
• MacroDef
• Mail
• MakeURL
• Manifest
• ManifestClassPath
• MimeMail
• Mkdir
• Move
• Native2Ascii
• NetRexxC
• Nice
• Parallel
• Patch
• PathConvert
• Perforce Tasks
• PreSetDef
• ProjectHelper
• Property
• PropertyFile
• PropertyHelper
• Pvcs
• Record
• Rename
• RenameExtensions
• Replace
• ReplaceRegExp
• ResourceCount
• Retry
• RExec
• Rmic
• Rpm
• SchemaValidate
• Scp
• Script
• Scriptdef
• Sequential
• ServerDeploy
• Setproxy
• SignJar
• Sleep
• SourceOffSite
• Sound
• Splash
• Sql
• Sshexec
• Sshsession
• Subant
• Symlink
• Sync
• Tar
• Taskdef
• Telnet
• Tempfile
• Touch
• Translate
• Truncate
• TStamp
• Typedef
• Unjar
• Untar
• Unwar
• Unzip
• Uptodate
• Microsoft Visual SourceSafe Tasks
• Waitfor
• War
• WhichResource
• Weblogic JSP Compiler
• XmlProperty
• XmlValidate
• XSLT/Style
• Zip

Concepts and Types

Concepts

• Targets and Extension-Points
• Properties and PropertyHelpers
• ant.build.clonevm
• build.sysclasspath
• Ant properties controlling javac
• Common Attributes

List of Types

• Class Fileset
• Description Type
• Directory-based Tasks
• DirSet
• Extension Package
• Set of Extension Packages
• FileList
• FileSet
• File Mappers
• FilterChains and FilterReaders
• FilterSet
• PatternSet
• Path-like Structures
• Permissions
• PropertySet
• I/O Redirectors
• Regexp
• Resources
• Resource Collections
• Selectors
• TarFileSet
• XMLCatalog
• ZipFileSet

Namespace

• Namespace Support

Antlib

• Antlib
• Antlib namespace
• Current namespace

Custom Components

• Custom Components
• Conditions
• Selectors
• FilterReaders

Developing with Apache Ant

• Writing Your Own Task
• Tasks Designed for Extension
• Build Events
• Source-code Integration
• InputHandler
• Using Ant Tasks Outside of Ant
• The Ant frontend: ProjectHelper

Tutorials

Hello World with Apache Ant
A step by step tutorial for starting java programming with Ant.

Writing Tasks
A step by step tutorial for writing tasks.

Tasks using Properties, Filesets & Paths
How to get and set properties and how to use nested filesets and paths while writing tasks. Finally it explains how to contribute tasks to Ant.

Apache Ant API

Apache Ant Core

Core Tasks

Core Types

Optional Tasks

Optional Types

Ant Utilities

Other Packages

Feedback and Troubleshooting

If things do not work, especially simple things like ant -version, then something is wrong with your configuration. Before filing bug reports and emailing all the Apache Ant mailing lists

1. Check your environment variables. Are ANT_HOME and JAVA_HOME correct? If they have quotes or trailing slashes, remove them.
2. Unset CLASSPATH; if that is wrong things go horribly wrong. Ant does not need the CLASSPATH variable defined to anything to work.
3. Make sure there are no versions of crimson.jar or other XML parsers in JRE/ext
4. Is your path correct? is Ant on it? What about JDK/bin? have you tested this? If you are using Jikes, is it on the path? A createProcess error (especially with ID=2 on windows) usually means executable not found on the path.
5. Which version of ant are you running? Other applications distribute a copy -it may be being picked up by accident.
6. If a task is failing to run is optional.jar in ANT_HOME/lib? Are there any libraries which it depends on missing?
7. If a task doesn't do what you expect, run ant -verbose or ant -debug to see what is happening

If you can't fix your problem, start with the Ant User Mailing List . These are other ant users who will help you learn to use ant. If they cannot fix it then someone may suggest filing a bug report, which will escalate the issue. Remember of course, that support, like all open source development tasks, is voluntary. If you haven't invested time in helping yourself by following the steps above, it is unlikely that anyone will invest the time in helping you.

Also, if you don't understand something, the Ant User Mailing List is the place to ask questions. Not the developer list, nor the individuals whose names appears in the source and documentation. If they answered all such emails, nobody would have any time to improve ant.

To provide feedback on this software, please subscribe to the Ant User Mailing List

If you want to contribute to Ant or stay current with the latestdevelopment, join theAnt Development Mailing List

A searchable archive can be found at http://marc.theaimsgroup.com.Other archives will be documented online at Mailing Lists Archives

Editor/IDE Integration

All the modern Java IDEs support Apache Ant almost out of the box.

• AntRunner For JBuilder (unbundled)
• AntWork Plugin for the Jext Java Text Editor (unbundled)
• JDEE (Java Development Environment for Emacs) has built-in text ANT integration: selection of target through text field, execution, hyperlink to compilation errors. Installation: built-in JDEE 2.2.8 or later. Configuration: through customize menu "Jde Build Function"
• IDEA has built-in GUI ANT integration: GUI selection of targets, execution, hyperlink to compilation errors
• NetBeans NetBeans IDE uses Ant as the basis for its project system starting with the 4.0 release.
• jEdit jEdit is an open source java IDE with some great plugins for Java dev, a good XML editor and the Antfarm plugin to execute targets in a build file.
• Eclipse Eclipse is IBM's counterpoint to NetBeans; an open source IDE with Java and Ant support.
• Virtual Ant GUI allows you to work on a Virtual File System without dealing with the XML. Plugs into Eclipse, Netbeans & Intellij.
• WebSphere Studio Application Developer
• JBuilder 9 Personal (pdf) JBuilder supports Ant with the following features. Add Ant nodes to projects and execute Ant targets from within JBuilder. Add custom Ant-based build tasks with custom Ant libraries to run Ant from within JBuilder. Rapid navigation from Ant build error messages to source files. Customize build menu and toolbar with custom build targets.

Authors

• Stephane Bailliez ([email protected])
• Nicola Ken Barozzi ([email protected])
• Jacques Bergeron ([email protected])
• Stefan Bodewig ([email protected])
• Patrick Chanezon ([email protected])
• James Duncan Davidson ([email protected])
• Tom Dimock ([email protected])
• Peter Donald ([email protected])
• dIon Gillard ([email protected])
• Erik Hatcher ([email protected])
• Diane Holt ([email protected])
• Bill Kelly ([email protected])
• Martijn Kruithof
• Arnout J. Kuiper ([email protected])
• Antoine L�vy-Lambert
• Conor MacNeill
• Jan Mat�rne
• Stefano Mazzocchi ([email protected])
• Erik Meade ([email protected])
• Sam Ruby ([email protected])
• Nico Seessle ([email protected])
• Jon S. Stevens ([email protected])
• Wolf Siberski
• Magesh Umasankar
• Roger Vaughn ([email protected])
• Dave Walend ([email protected])
• Phillip Wells ([email protected])
• Christoph Wilhelms
• Craeg Strong ([email protected])