Java Extreme Programming Cookbook

Writing a Basic Buildfile

Problem

You want to write a basic Ant buildfile.

Solution

Example 3-1 lists a simple Ant buildfile that you may use as a boilerplate for your own projects.

Example 3-1. Boilerplate Ant buildfile

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<project name="Template Buildfile" default="compile" basedir=".">
  <property name="dir.src" value="src"/>
  <property name="dir.build" value="build"/>
  <property name="dir.dist" value="dist"/>

  <!-- Creates the output directories -->
  <target name="prepare">
    <mkdir dir="${dir.build}"/>
    <mkdir dir="${dir.dist}"/>
  </target>

  <target name="clean"
          description="Remove all generated files.">
    <delete dir="${dir.build}"/>
    <delete dir="${dir.dist}"/>
  </target>

  <target name="compile" depends="prepare"
          description="Compile all source code.">
    <javac srcdir="${dir.src}" destdir="${dir.build}"/>
  </target>

  <target name="jar" depends="compile"
          description="Generates oreilly.jar in the 'dist' directory.">
    <jar jarfile="${dir.dist}/oreilly.jar" 
         basedir="${dir.build}"/>
  </target>
</project>

Discussion

You generally call this file build.xml, and can put it anywhere you like. In our example, the buildfile is found in the directory containing the src directory. The <project> tag is found in all buildfiles:

<project name="Template Buildfile" default="compile" basedir=".">

The project name should be something descriptive, as this may show up when you run Ant from other tools. The default attribute specifies which target is invoked when the user types ant. Finally, the ...