Clueless, FAQ-less newbie flails helplessly

[Will Dye <wi...@dsndata.com>]

Here's my situation.  I'm working on Freenet, which is a large 
open-source project to build a distributed datastore.  Freenet can 
be found at:

	http://freenet.sourceforge.net/

Freenet is in Java, uses CVS, and hopes to be very cross-platform.  
Certainly we neeed good builds for both Linux and Windows, even 
during development.  Currently, we use a Makefile as a part of the 
build process.  Recently, a key developer on the project complained:

> I don't really see the point with the Makefile since it doesn't
> actually check the dependencies. According to the author this can't 
> be done since java uses wildcard imports (import Freenet.client.*), 
> and giving up those would be a real bitch.

> Ant is a java based build tool that uses xml build files, and has a
> java specific methods that do the dependencies recursively on java
> files. I would really like it if somebody took the time to make build
> files for that (or another tool that works like it's supposed to).

As a relative newbie to the Freenet project, I volunteered to check 
out the possibilities in greater detail.  I'm just learning Java now, 
and know very little of Makefiles since the build system at work is 
intricate enough that most programmers like myself don't mess with it.  
I figured this was as good a reason as any to learn some new stuff.

Step one is the FAQ, but that's where I got stuck.  I tried to open 
the Ant FAQ page, but got slapped away with an error (no, not just a 
404, it was something serious).  As instructed by the error message, 
I sent off an e-mail to the appropriate person about it.  I've no 
idea how long it will take to get it fixed, however, so I decided to 
hit this list.  

Bottom line: does someone know of another place to find the FAQ and 
any other documentation about Ant & how to use it?  Any other 
suggested readings?  I'd like to avoid spamming the list with even 
more newbie flailing.  :-)


Thanks in advance,

--Will
willdye@willdye.com

 ___________________________ ________________________________________
/William L. Dye  (willdye)  \\ I support term limits.  When I become \
\ willdye@willdye.com  -or-  \\ dictator-for-life, I promise to serve \
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Re: Clueless, FAQ-less newbie flails helplessly

[Peter Donald <do...@mad.scientist.com>]

At 04:08  25/8/00 -0500, you wrote:
>
>	http://freenet.sourceforge.net/

kewl - project for a number of different reasons :P


>Step one is the FAQ, but that's where I got stuck.  I tried to open 
>the Ant FAQ page, but got slapped away with an error (no, not just a 
>404, it was something serious).  As instructed by the error message, 
>I sent off an e-mail to the appropriate person about it.  I've no 
>idea how long it will take to get it fixed, however, so I decided to 
>hit this list.  

http://jakarta.apache.org/jyve-faq/Turbine/screen/DisplayTopics/action/SetAl
l/project_id/2/faq_id/16

works now for me. Was this the URL you tried ?

>Bottom line: does someone know of another place to find the FAQ and 
>any other documentation about Ant & how to use it?  Any other 
>suggested readings?  I'd like to avoid spamming the list with even 
>more newbie flailing.  :-)

well there is a bit of documentation in nightly downloads and I would start
there. Another great place to look is at the various other build.xml's for
apache projects. This is one I maintain and think is reasonably clear to
read (except for documentation part).

http://www.working-dogs.com/cvsweb/index.cgi/~checkout~/framework/build.xml?
rev=1.43&content-type=text/plain
Cheers,

Pete

*------------------------------------------------------*
| "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want |
| to test a man's character, give him power."          |
|       -Abraham Lincoln                               |
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