1- This is just a reference for setting up a new Java project. It
2- contains some of the little Ant tricks I've learned.
1+ This is a reference for setting up a new Ant-based Java project. It
2+ contains most of the little Ant tricks I've learned over the
3+ years. When I start a new Java project I clone this repository, remove
4+ sections of build.xml that I don't care about for that particular
5+ project, set the project properties, clear out the sample sources, and
6+ get to work.
37
48Building this project requires that Ivy be available to Ant. All you
59need is ivy.jar in Ant's classpath (in your $CLASSPATH, $ANT_HOME/lib,
@@ -9,33 +13,44 @@ You will need to have Astyle installed and in your path for the
913"format" target to work. If it's missing, that's fine. It won't affect
1014any other targets.
1115
12- Ant will be looking for Checkstyle, which provides the "check"
13- target. Except the extra target, I think it should work without
14- it. Like a hardcore bureaucrat, Checkstyle will harshly criticize your
15- code, requiring you to add every bit of excessive and needless
16- boilerplate. That can keep some idle hands pretty busy.
16+ Ant will be looking for Checkstyle if you try to use the "check"
17+ target. Like a hardcore bureaucrat, Checkstyle will harshly criticize
18+ any stylistic mistakes and missing documentation, requiring you to dot
19+ every "i" and cross every "t". That can keep idle hands pretty busy.
1720
18- Ant will be looking for ProGuard, which provides the "optimize"
19- target. You should still be able to build the project without it. Only
20- the "optimize" target will not work .
21+ Ant will be looking for ProGuard if you try to use the "optimize"
22+ target. This tool does a bytecode analysis to shorten (and obfuscate)
23+ identifiers and remove unreachable code .
2124
2225There is a "hotswap" target for replacing live code while an
2326application is running. You'll need the hotswap Ant extension
24- installed in Ant's classpath to use it. It's to be used alongside the
25- "run-hotswap" target, which enables hotswapping in the
26- JVM. Hotswapping has no practical use in this particular sample
27- project because it exits immediately.
27+ installed to use it. This target is to be used alongside the
28+ "run-hotswap" target, which enables hotswapping in the JVM. You can
29+ demo this for yourself by running "run-hotswap" in a terminal, editing
30+ the printed string in the code, and running "hotswap" in another
31+ terminal. The printed message in the running program should change to
32+ the new string.
2833
29- Note that ProGuard and Checkstyle are needed only in the build
30- classpath, not your project's classpath. That means you probably don't
31- want them in lib/. Like Ivy, they should be where Ant can get to them.
34+ Note that ProGuard, hotswap, Ivy, and Checkstyle are needed only in
35+ the build classpath, not your project's classpath. That means you
36+ probably don't want them in lib/. They should be where Ant can get to
37+ them, not your project.
38+
39+ Take note of the sample pom.xml file. This is not actually for Maven
40+ builds -- this is an Ant project afterall -- but for publishing builds
41+ for a Maven repository. It's packed up by the "bundle" target, which
42+ creates a bundle.jar containing your project's signed artifacts. To
43+ use the "bundle" target you need to have GnuPG set up in your path, a
44+ generated key pair, and a running gpg-agent, unless you like typing
45+ your passphrase a bunch of times in a row.
3246
3347I hate coding absolute paths in my build script and I hate including
3448built files as part of the base project. My philosophy is that the
3549*environment* should be set up so that the tool can easily find the
3650external resources they need (JUnit, etc.) from the system, not within
37- the project. It's the system that provides the libraries. Anyone who
38- has the proper development environment set up -- one that carries
39- across many projects -- should be able to clone the repository and do
40- the build without editing anything or installing anything else into
41- the project space.
51+ the project. It's the system or dependency manager that provides the
52+ libraries. Anyone who has the proper development environment set up --
53+ one that works across many projects -- should be able to clone the
54+ repository and do a build simply by running the build program with no
55+ special arguments. There should be no need to edit or install anything
56+ into the project space for the initial build.
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