build.xml(5)

✨ build.xml — the manual page, but make it cute ✨

okay bestie, gather round, because today we're talking about build.xml, a File Formats Manual entry, and honestly? it's giving "the blueprint of your whole build" 💅

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🌸 NAME 🌸

build.xml — the configuration file Apache Ant uses to build projects. that's it, that's the girl. 🎀

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so. build.xml is the default configuration file that ant uses to figure out which target to build for a specific project. think of it as the Ant equivalent of a Makefile. same energy, different font. ✨

Ant's format is XML, and you make a separate file for each project. a buildfile is made of one or more tasks. here's an example, look at her:

<project default="compile">

  <target name="compile">
    <javac srcdir="src"/>
  </target>

</project>

this example has one target, and it's the default one. the target itself has one task, javac, which compiles the files in the src directory. simple, clean, iconic. 🫶

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🎯 TARGETS 🎯

targets can depend on other targets, bestie. those dependencies get declared with the depends attribute on the <target> element. no cap, that's the whole vibe. 🔥

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🛠️ TASKS 🛠️

a task is a piece of code that gets executed. Ant knows about built-in tasks and optional tasks, but you can also write your own new tasks if you're feeling main character. 👑

⭐ Built-in tasks ⭐

the built-in tasks are, in order, and I am NOT skipping a single one because we don't do that here:

Ant, AntCall, AntStructure, AntVersion, Apply, Apt, Available, Basename, BuildNumber, BUnzip2, BZip2, Checksum, Chmod, Concat, Condition, Copy, Componentdef, Cvs, CvsChangeLog, CvsVersion, CVSPass, CvsTagDiff, Defaultexcludes, Delete, Deltree, Dependset, Diagnostics, Dirname, Ear, Echo, EchoXML, Exec, Fail, Filter, FixCRLF, GenKey, Get, HostInfo, GUnzip, GZip, Import, Include, Input, Jar, Java, Javac, Javadoc, Length, LoadFile, LoadProperties, LoadResource, Local, MakeURL, Mail, MacroDef, Manifest, ManifestClassPath, Mkdir, Move, Nice, Parallel, Patch, PathConvert, PreSetDef, Property, PropertyHelper, Record, Replace, ResourceCount, Retry, Rmic, Sequential, SignJar, Sleep, Sql, SubAnt, Sync, Tar, Taskdef, Tempfile, Touch, Truncate, TStamp, Typedef, Unjar, Untar, Unwar, Unzip, Uptodate, Waitfor, WhichResource, War, XmlProperty, XSLT, Zip

seventy-something tasks and they all ate. 💅

☕ Java ☕

executes a Java class within the running (Ant) VM, or forks another VM if specified. here are some of the attributes on the <java> element:

• classname (required) — the Java class to execute.
• fork — if enabled, it triggers the class execution in another VM. it's disabled by default.
• jvm — the command used to invoke the Java Virtual Machine; default is java. the command gets resolved by java.lang.Runtime.exec(). ignored if fork is disabled, so don't come crying to me. 😭

other arguments are classpath, classpathref, maxmemory, failonerror, dir and output. ✨

🍓 Javac 🍓

compiles a source tree within the running (Ant) VM.

• srcdir (required) — location of the java files.
• destdir — location to store the class files.
• debug — indicates whether source should be compiled with debug information; defaults to off.
• target — generate class files for a specific VM version (e.g., 1.4, 1.5, etc).
• includes — comma-separated list of patterns of files that must be included; all files are included when omitted.
• excludes — comma-separated list of patterns of files that must be excluded; no files (except default excludes) are excluded when omitted.
• defaultexcludes — indicates whether default excludes should be used (yes | no); default excludes are used when omitted.

other arguments are includesfile, excludesfile, classpath, bootclasspath, classpathref, bootclasspathref, extdirs, encoding, deprecation, verbose, includeAntRuntime, includeJavaRuntime and failonerror. so many options, so little time. 💀

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💜 Properties 💜

a project can have a set of properties, which are a name/value combination. within tasks you use them by wrapping them between "${" and "}", like "${builddir}/classes". it's the original variable interpolation, and she's still serving. 🌈

🧚 Built-in Properties 🧚

Ant gives you access to all system properties as if they'd been defined with a <property> task. for example, ${os.name} expands to the name of the operating system. free real estate. ✨

• basedir — the absolute path of the project's basedir (as set with the basedir attribute of <project>).
• ant.file — the absolute path of the buildfile.
• ant.version — the version of Ant.
• ant.project.name — the name of the project that is currently executing; it's set in the name attribute of <project>.
• ant.java.version — the JVM version Ant detected.

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🌈 Classpath 🌈

the classpath can be set with the <classpath> element, like so:

<classpath>
  <pathelement path="${classpath}"/>
  <pathelement location="lib/helper.jar"/>
  <fileset dir="lib">
    <include name="**/*.jar"/>
  </fileset> </classpath>

nested elements, filesets, ${classpath} expansion — she's got range. 👑

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

• ant(1)

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🫶 AUTHOR 🫶

this manpage was made by Egon Willighagen <egonw@sci.kun.nl>, and it's based on the Ant Manual <http://ant.apache.org/manual/>. credit where credit is due, periodt. 💖

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🌟 and that's the whole page, bestie. go forth and build. no cap.

Debian Linux · February 2010 — mwah, thanks for reading, ily, bye! 🎀✨💅🦋🌸