Ant: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

Chapter 3. Building Java Code

Ant is the premiere build tool for Java developers, and this chapter focuses on the Java build process, from compiling Java code with the javac task through compressing and packaging the results with tasks such as jar and tar. Along the way, I'll discuss several central build issues, such as keeping track of the build number, storing that number in a JAR file's manifest file, getting input from the user and acting on that input, calling one Ant target from another, creating Javadoc with the javadoc task, and more.

Compiling Code

The javac task compiles Java source code. You've seen javac at work many times in this book but haven't exhausted what this task has to offer by any means. You can get an idea how extensive a task it is by its huge number of attributes, shown in Table 3-1.

Table 3-1. The javac task's attributes

Attribute	Description	Required	Default
bootclasspath	Specifies where to find any bootstrap class files.	No	Â
bootclasspathref	Specifies where to find any bootstrap class files, given as a reference.	No	Â
classpath	Specifies the classpath you want to use.	No	Â
classpathref	Specifies the classpath you want to use, given as a reference to a path.	No	Â
compiler	Specifies the compiler you want to use. If you don't set this attribute, this task will use the compiler pointed to by the build.compiler property, if set. If that property is not set, the default compiler for the current JVM is used.	No	Â
debug	Specifies whether or not your code ...