ant
eclipse/ant integration
Development Resources

If you are already an Eclipse/Ant integration developer, check out the Development Resources.
Ant

The Ant component is designed to bring the power of Ant and Eclipse together. Ant is a Java based build tool. In theory it is kind of like make without make's wrinkles. It exists independent of Eclipse as an Apache open source project. Integrating Ant into Eclipse means:

  • Executing Ant buildfiles from Eclipse
  • Enabling access to Eclipse resources/function from Ant buildfiles (i.e., providing Ant tasks for Eclipse)
  • Providing UI support for running Ant buildfiles and managing their output
  • Providing Ant buildfile development facilities (e.g., buildfile editors, debuggers, ...)

The goal of this component is to make Eclipse's Ant tooling the environment of choice for Ant users and support Eclipse-based developers in their product build requirements.
What's Happening?

Maintenance Efforts

  • Fixes released to the 2.0.x branch
  • Fixes released to the 2.1.x branch
  • Fixes released to the 3.0.x branch

Patches for 3.0.1

  • Remote Ant Support JAR
    Place in the "../plugins/org.eclipse.ant.ui_3.0.1/lib" directory of your Eclipse install.
    Includes fixes for:
    • Bug 73284 InternalAntRunner should check for bad string index and generate more helpful error msgs
    • Bug 67003 <splash> task creates process that never ends
    • Provides an input handler that can be used with Eclipse 3.0.1.
      To use:
      • Set the inputhandler as a program argument on the Main tab:
        -inputhandler org.eclipse.ant.internal.ui.antsupport.inputhandler.SWTInputHandler
      • set the VM arguments on the JRE tab of your Ant launch configuration to enter the following line to tell the VM where to look for the SWT libraries:
        -Djava.library.path="${system:ECLIPSE_HOME}/plugins/org.eclipse.swt.${system:WS}_3.0.1/os/${system:OS}/${system:ARCH}".
      • Set the classpath for the launch configuration to include all the SWT JARs found at:
        "installation_directory\plugins\org.eclipse.swt.xxx_platform"
        where "installation_directory" is the directory into which eclipse was installed, and "xxx_platform" is the platform directory. For example, on Windows this might be: "C:\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.swt.win32_3.0.1\ws\win32\swt.jar" and on Linux this might be: "/eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.swt.motif_3.0.1/ws/linux/*.jar"

    3.1 Development Effort

    • The overall 3.1 plan is posted here.
    • The next milestone plan is posted here.

    For more detailed information, check out the Development Resources.

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    Get Involved!

    If you are interested in participating in the development of the Ant component, check out the developer's mailing list: platform-ant-dev@eclipse.org. Chat with people there about your problems and interests, and find out what you can do to help.

    In particular, if you have extensive experience using Ant, writing tasks or are in fact a committer on the Ant project, the Eclipse Ant integration component could use your help. Upcoming work ranges from basic integration to higher level tooling UI.

    For more detailed information, check out the Development Resources.