filelist and dir attribute

[Adam Hardy <ad...@cyberspaceroad.com>]

Hi,
I ran into a situation with <filelist> where I want to use it to specify 
a list of jar files which are spread all over the file system. In Unix, 
I can do this with <filelist> because I can give the dir attribute the "/"

I have to give dir="" something because it is mandatory and the tasks 
such as <copy> which take <filelist> demand it as well, expanding the 
listed files' paths using it.

In Windows where jars on different drives have different drive letters, 
this doesn't work.

If I submitted changes to <filelist>, so that its dir is not mandatory, 
and also to <copy> so that it can handle a <filelist> with no dir 
attribute,  would it be considered for inclusion back into CVS?

I've noticed other people's postings on the user list saying this would 
be desirable ( 
http://www.mail-archive.com/ant-user@jakarta.apache.org/msg17073.html )

This would be ideal for me because it means I could implement a method 
where

(1) the build.xml and the main properties file become completely 
independent of the location of all the different jars - I would have a 
2nd properties file listing external jars with their full paths

(2) the build.xml becomes independent of which jar files are required 
for the project, since I could list them in one property in the main 
properties file, which would be read by a <filelist>.

The reason for (1) is the jars always get installed in different places 
depending on the packaging method, the developer's machine and the 
version of the package.

The reason for (2) is that up until now I have always had to hack around 
the build.xml when I want to alter which external jars are used. I don't 
like doing this because firstly it is slower than having all the 
external jars specified in one property in a properites file, and 
secondly the build.xml gets checked into CVS for the project and it 
annoys others on the team when one developer has changed build.xml and 
checked it back in.

I hope this sounds agreeable,

til later,
Adam

Re: filelist and dir attribute

[Adam Hardy <ad...@cyberspaceroad.com>]

Hi listers,

I am interested in developing some ant classes. I emailed the list 
earlier this week but got no response, probably due to my obscure 
descriptive style.  It involves the the <filelist> and the <copy> classes.

I've searched the users list and there seems to be a few others who are 
interested in the same issue. I've queried bugzilla and found nothing 
there on it though, at least no enhancement requests.

I've read the 'get involved' stuff on the apache site and the ant docs, 
and I can't forsee any major problems.

Basically I'd just like some feedback on my proposal. I haven't taken 
part in any open-source project before, but from my normal work 
experience I assume the community wants people who will write decent 
code, document it and test it, and be prepared to follow it up in the 
future.

Would appreciate your feedback,

Adam

Re: filelist and dir attribute

[Adam Hardy <ad...@cyberspaceroad.com>]

Stefan Bodewig wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Feb 2003, Adam Hardy <ad...@cyberspaceroad.com> 
> wrote: <http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=11270> is 
> more than just a little bit related and Conor has promised to look 
> into it 8-)
> 
> Stefan

They are closely related, but the bug 11270 title "if directory does not
exist" would not be an appropriate title if you wanted to combine the 2
issues into 1 bug.  Something like "new options needed for directory path
info on fileset, dirset, listset & dirlist"

I assume that all the other classes that use FileList would also in an 
ideal world need to be updated to accept its new functionality?

I've got this list from doing a grep:

./DirectoryScanner.java:1
./taskdefs/compilers/DefaultCompilerAdapter.java:1
./taskdefs/Concat.java:7
./taskdefs/DependSet.java:22
./taskdefs/Javac.java:3
./taskdefs/PathConvert.java:6
./taskdefs/Rmic.java:1
./taskdefs/optional/Cab.java:2
./taskdefs/optional/NetRexxC.java:5
./taskdefs/optional/depend/Depend.java:7
./taskdefs/optional/dotnet/DotnetCompile.java:2
./taskdefs/optional/jsp/JspC.java:2
./taskdefs/optional/perforce/P4Add.java:7
./taskdefs/optional/perforce/P4Fstat.java:8
./types/FileList.java:16
./types/Path.java:4
./types/PatternSet.java:11

Re: filelist and dir attribute

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

On Fri, 21 Feb 2003, Adam Hardy <ad...@cyberspaceroad.com>
wrote:

> If I submitted changes to <filelist>, so that its dir is not
> mandatory, and also to <copy> so that it can handle a <filelist>
> with no dir attribute, would it be considered for inclusion back
> into CVS?

There ain't no guarantees - especially not in an all-volunteer shop.
But it's pretty likely that it will bubble up on somebody's to do list
sooner or later.  A decent patch with tests and all that is going to
make it sooner.

<http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=11270> is more than
just a little bit related and Conor has promised to look into it 8-)

Stefan