Not a FAQ? make-like build prerequisites

[Kendall Shaw <qu...@pacbell.net>]

Hi, I'm relatively new to ant.

The reason for looking for a "build system" for me, is to find something
that will only build what needs to be built, otherwise I would simply
pile a list of commands into a batch file, or write some sort of a
script to manually do what a build system should automatically do, from
my perspective. Beyond that there are other niceties. Does ant fit this
role?

For example, how can I code the equivalent of this makefile:

all: asdf.xyz

asdf.xyz: sdaf.abc
       something sdaf.abc asdf.xyz

sdaf.abc: fdsa.ghi
       somethingelse fdsa.ghi sdaf.abc

where, if the result of running "something" does not need to be created
again, it isn't. if that result does need to be created again, then do
create it, but before that, check if the result of "somethingelse" needs
to be created again, if it doesn't, then don't, otherwise... etc.

If I have to actually explicitly code the tests, rather then specifying
rules, then I might as well just use beanshell, perl or python or
something (or use make, possibly with calls to ant if I'm compiling
java), or I think I will need to look elsewhere for a build system.

I've looked into ant on various occasions and never quite gotten an
answer. I once played with condition and uptodate, and was able to
manually specify rules to build in a "make-like" way.

I have not yet tried using antcontrib's outofdate task, from the first
glance though, it still looks like that would only get me to be able to
manually specify what I think of a build system automatically taking
care of.

I figure that this must be a FAQ, and that people should be able to
guide me easily. I don't see it in the FAQ though, and I haven't gotten
much of an answer from looking at the list archives. Can you enlighten me?

Thanks, in advance.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@ant.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@ant.apache.org