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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> |
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<html> |
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us"> |
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<title>Ant2 feature list</title> |
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</head> |
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<body> |
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<h1>Ant2 Goals</h1> |
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<p>Even though Ant2 is expected to be incompatible with the |
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current Ant1 series, it still has the same goals. Ant is a Java |
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based build tool and this remains the main focus of it. The |
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original goals of simplicity, understandability and extensibility |
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still stand and Ant2 will try to achieve them even better than |
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Ant1 does.</p> |
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<h2>Simplicity and Understandability</h2> |
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<p>These two goals are closely related. Ant build files shall be |
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easy to read and understand - at the same time it should be easy |
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to write a custom Ant task and to use the utility classes that |
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Ant2 provides.</p> |
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<p>Ant2 shall be more consistent than Ant1 is - this means:</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li>core tasks will use the same attribute names for common |
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functionality</li> |
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<li>similar tasks will be unified to use similar forms.</li> |
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<li>different implementations for the same functionality will be |
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hidden behind facade tasks.</li> |
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<li>properties and data types will be unified so that they share |
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the same namespace and inheritance rules.</li> |
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</ul> |
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<p>Furthermore some things will have to become more explicit:</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li>remove all magic properties</li> |
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<li>make build file writers explicitly state which |
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filters/filtersets a copy task will use</li> |
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<li>add scoping rules for properties so that not all of them |
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will be inherited by sub-builds, only those that have been |
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specified explicitly.</li> |
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</ul> |
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<h2>Extensibility</h2> |
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<p>Ant2 like Ant1 uses build files written in XML as its main |
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input, but it will not be restricted to it. The core of Ant2 will |
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work on an object model of Project/Target/Task that is independent |
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of any external representation.</p> |
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<p>As an extension of the current <code><taskdef></code> |
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concept, tasks can be bundled into task libraries (together with |
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data types and other utility classes). These task libraries are |
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special JAR archives that somehow describe the contained tasks to |
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Ant. Ant will automatically know all tasks contained in task |
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libraries that have been placed into a special directory - in |
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addition task libraries can be referenced and used in a build file |
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explicitly.</p> |
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<h1>New/Modified Features</h1> |
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<p>Ant2 is going to break Ant1 in several ways:</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li>Tasks written for Ant1 won't work in Ant2 as the API of |
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Ant's core and the names of utility classes are going to |
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change. There will probably be adaptors and utility classes to |
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ease the transition for task writers.</li> |
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<li>Build files written for Ant1 will probably not be valid in |
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Ant2 or at least not yield the same results. It is expected that |
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Ant2 will come with a tool to translate Ant1 build files into |
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equivalent Ant2 versions</li> |
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<li>magic properties like <code>build.compiler</code> may |
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disappear and be replaced by a different customization |
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concept.</li> |
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<li>Ant2 is going to require a JDK version 1.2 or above and a |
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JAXP compliant parser version 1.1 or above.</li> |
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</ul> |
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<h1>Rejected Features</h1> |
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<hr> |
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<p align="center">$Id$</p> |
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<p align="center">Copyright © 2001 Apache Software |
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Foundation. All rights Reserved.</p> |
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</body> |
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</html> |
Stefan Bodewig