Introduction - Zack

["Grossbart, Zack" <za...@silverstream.com>]

I'm not sure if there is a mechanism for introductions, so I will introduce
myself.

My name is Zack Grossbart and I work for SilverStream Software
(http://silverstream.com).  My team makes a J2EE application server.  We
have an amazingly complicated build process involving multiple phases, boot
strapping, and many of our own compilers.  I recently converted our build to
use Ant.

In converting our build process, I have made a number of small changes to
the Ant built-in tasks and defined some new tasks.  I think that these would
be useful to other people.

Some of these changes include:
	adding support for the symantec Java compiler (sj.exe) to the javac task
	adding an overwrite switch to the property task
	creating an antinclude task (similar to antcall, but supports targets from
other files)
	and some small changes to zip.

Are these the types of changes that would be helpful to the project?

Thanks
Zack

Re: Ant developers' guide - or not, so how do I???

[Ken Wood <kw...@i2.com>]

Thank you and Diane.

createArg().setValue did the trick. Now it
works without annoying deprecation messages.

Stefan Bodewig wrote:

> Ken Wood <kw...@i2.com> wrote:
>
> > However, the existing weblogic jsp compiler task
> > is calling setArgs(arg), which cause messages
> > about that functionality being deprecated, use
> > nested arguments. Well, I'd love to.... if I could
> > figure out what API to use instead of setArgs(arg).
>
> createArg().setValue(arg)
>
> > So, lacking a developer's guide, what existing task
> > in Ant release 1.2 (core or optional) would be a
> > good example to look at to understand how to
> > change the code????
>
> The problem boils down to executing an external command, so I'd
> suggest looking at ExecTask.
>
> Cheers
>
>         Stefan

Re: Ant developers' guide - or not, so how do I???

[Stefan Bodewig <bo...@apache.org>]

Ken Wood <kw...@i2.com> wrote:

> However, the existing weblogic jsp compiler task
> is calling setArgs(arg), which cause messages
> about that functionality being deprecated, use
> nested arguments. Well, I'd love to.... if I could
> figure out what API to use instead of setArgs(arg).

createArg().setValue(arg)

> So, lacking a developer's guide, what existing task
> in Ant release 1.2 (core or optional) would be a
> good example to look at to understand how to
> change the code????

The problem boils down to executing an external command, so I'd
suggest looking at ExecTask.

Cheers

        Stefan

Ant developers' guide - or not, so how do I???

[Ken Wood <kw...@i2.com>]

Unless I've missed it, there doesn't appear to be
an 'Ant Developers Guide' that gives info
about how to write Ant tasks. There is just
the user manual.

I'm trying to transform the Ant 1.2 Weblogic jsp compiler
task into a Jrun jsp compiler task, which is giving
me the long desired chance to learn the insides
of 'ant'.

However, the existing weblogic jsp compiler task
is calling setArgs(arg), which cause messages
about that functionality being deprecated, use
nested arguments. Well, I'd love to.... if I could
figure out what API to use instead of setArgs(arg).

So, lacking a developer's guide, what existing task
in Ant release 1.2 (core or optional) would be a
good example to look at to understand how to
change the code????

Thanks!!!

RE: Introduction - Zack

[Conor MacNeill <co...@m64.com>]

Hi Zack,

> Some of these changes include:
> 	adding support for the symantec Java compiler (sj.exe)
> to the javac task
> 	adding an overwrite switch to the property task
> 	creating an antinclude task (similar to antcall, but
> supports targets from
> other files)
> 	and some small changes to zip.
>
> Are these the types of changes that would be helpful to the project?
>

Sure, lets see them. You probably want to read
http://jakarta.apache.org/site/getinvolved.html

to see how to participate. In particular the best way to submit patches
is discussed here
http://jakarta.apache.org/site/bugs.html

I'm sure some of your ideas will generate some debate. The overwrite
switch for the property task is the one that jumps out. The whole issue
of property mutability, precedence and scoping has been discussed at
length. There are some reasons for the current ant behaviour, mainly
related to being able to override property values from the command line.

Conor