|
| 1 | + |
| 2 | + A N T |
| 3 | + |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | + What is it? |
| 6 | + ----------- |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | + Ant is a Java based build tool. In theory it is kind of like "make" |
| 9 | + without makes wrinkles and with the full portability of pure java code. |
| 10 | + |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | + Why? |
| 13 | + ---- |
| 14 | + |
| 15 | + Why another build tool when there is already make, gnumake, nmake, jam, |
| 16 | + and others? Because all of those tools have limitations that its original |
| 17 | + author couldn't live with when developing software across multiple platforms. |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | + Make-like tools are inherently shell based. They evaluate a set of |
| 20 | + dependencies and then execute commands not unlike what you would issue on a |
| 21 | + shell. This means that you can easily extend these tools by using or writing |
| 22 | + any program for the OS that you are working on. However, this also means that |
| 23 | + you limit yourself to the OS, or at least the OS type such as Unix, that you |
| 24 | + are working on. |
| 25 | + |
| 26 | + Makefiles are inherently evil as well. Anybody who has worked on them for any |
| 27 | + time has run into the dreaded tab problem. "Is my command not executing |
| 28 | + because I have a space in front of my tab!!!" said the original author of Ant |
| 29 | + way too many times. Tools like Jam took care of this to a great degree, but |
| 30 | + still use yet another format to use and remember. |
| 31 | + |
| 32 | + Ant is different. Instead a model where it is extended with shell based |
| 33 | + commands, it is extended using Java classes. Instead of writing shell |
| 34 | + commands, the configuration files are XML based calling out a target tree |
| 35 | + where various tasks get executed. Each task is run by an object which |
| 36 | + implements a particular Task interface. |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | + Granted, this removes some of the expressive power that is inherent by being |
| 39 | + able to construct a shell command such as `find . -name foo -exec rm {}` but |
| 40 | + it gives you the ability to be cross platform. To work anywhere and |
| 41 | + everywhere. And hey, if you really need to execute a shell command, Ant has |
| 42 | + an exec rule that allows different commands to be executed based on the OS |
| 43 | + that it is executing on. |
| 44 | + |
| 45 | + The Latest Version |
| 46 | + ------------------ |
| 47 | + |
| 48 | + Details of the latest version can be found on the Apache Ant |
| 49 | + Project web site <http://ant.apache.org/>. |
| 50 | + |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | + Documentation |
| 53 | + ------------- |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | + Documentation is available in HTML format, in the docs/ directory. |
| 56 | + For information about building and installing Ant, see |
| 57 | + docs/manual/index.html |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | + Licensing |
| 61 | + --------- |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | + This software is licensed under the terms you may find in the file |
| 64 | + named "LICENSE" in this directory. |
| 65 | + |
| 66 | + This distribution includes cryptographic software. The country in |
| 67 | + which you currently reside may have restrictions on the import, |
| 68 | + possession, use, and/or re-export to another country, of |
| 69 | + encryption software. BEFORE using any encryption software, please |
| 70 | + check your country's laws, regulations and policies concerning the |
| 71 | + import, possession, or use, and re-export of encryption software, to |
| 72 | + see if this is permitted. See <http://www.wassenaar.org/> for more |
| 73 | + information. |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | + The U.S. Government Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and |
| 76 | + Security (BIS), has classified this software as Export Commodity |
| 77 | + Control Number (ECCN) 5D002.C.1, which includes information security |
| 78 | + software using or performing cryptographic functions with asymmetric |
| 79 | + algorithms. The form and manner of this Apache Software Foundation |
| 80 | + distribution makes it eligible for export under the License Exception |
| 81 | + ENC Technology Software Unrestricted (TSU) exception (see the BIS |
| 82 | + Export Administration Regulations, Section 740.13) for both object |
| 83 | + code and source code. |
| 84 | + |
| 85 | + The following provides more details on the included cryptographic |
| 86 | + software: |
| 87 | + |
| 88 | + For the SSH family of tasks (<sshexec> and <scp>) Ant requires the |
| 89 | + JSch <http://www.jcraft.com/jsch/index.html> library as well as the |
| 90 | + Java Cryptography extensions |
| 91 | + <http://java.sun.com/javase/technologies/security/>. Ant does not |
| 92 | + include these libraries itself, but is designed to use them. |
| 93 | + |
| 94 | + Thanks for using Ant. |
| 95 | + |
| 96 | + The Apache Ant Project |
| 97 | + <http://ant.apache.org/> |
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