[jdt-dev] Integration between Ant and Eclipse jdt

["Martin Alley" <martin.alley@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,
 
At the risk of stirring up a hornet's nest, or just not understanding, I
am frustrated at the integration between ant and eclipse jdt.
 
Ant has huge power, and is very flexible with its properties and tasks
etc. *but* it's not got a GUI.
 
Eclipse is a great GUI, but it lacks the flexibility of ant, why else
have a door for external builds?  See Eclipse in Action 2003 (Manning)
section 5.1 "The need for an official build process".
 
I would like much better integration between ant and eclipse.
 
Here is an example of what I envisage:
All eclipse jdt configuration should be represented as ant build tasks.
The .classpath file should have the same capabilities as ant classpath
definitions - ie. use filesets and **/*.java syntax.  Also it should be
possible to put whole directories in the classpath like this <fileset
dir="${mydir}" includes="**/*.jar"/>
 
Also it should be possible to take a legacy ant build file, and so long
as it is structured the same as the "official eclipse ant build format",
it should be possible to use that ant build file through the eclipse
gui.
 
Right now eclipse and ant are in two different worlds, which makes
synchronising project configurations for ant and eclipse environments a
tiresome task.  Each tool is great in its own right, but they are not
well integrated.
 
I'd be interested in collaborating with others to make this happen (time
and money allowing).  Or is this a weakness already recognised and being
worked on?
 
Thanks for listening.
Martin
PS I am currently using eclipse M5, and ant 1.6beta2