Ant
Introduction to Ant
Ant is an open-source and free to use build automation tool for a.o. Java applications. It consists of a Java library and a command line tool which uses a build file (build.xml) to drive certain processes. Those processes can be:
- Move/Copy files
- Run Unit tests
- Compile the Java source code
- Create an executable wrapper around a jar file
- ...and much more
The Apache Ant project is part of the Apache Software Foundation. More information can be found on the Apache Ant website.
Installation
Ant can be downloaded in the binaries section of the Ant website. Also, a complete Installing Apache Ant Manual is available on their website. Please go to the Installing Apache Ant Manual for the specific steps.
To summarize, the installation procedure consists of the following steps:
- Download Ant
- Unzip the downloaded file
- Set the Windows Environment Variables
- Run the following command in the command line: ant -f fetch.xml -Ddest=system
Configuration
The configuration of Ant is unique per project, therefore each project has it's own build.xml file which contains information about what Ant needs to do. In the test automation server of HAN-Automotive this file is added in the repository which makes it possible to adapt it to the needs of the programmers.
