<s>
Apache	B-Application
Ant	I-Application
is	O
a	O
software	O
tool	O
for	O
automating	B-Application
software	I-Application
build	I-Application
processes	O
which	O
originated	O
from	O
the	O
Apache	B-Language
Tomcat	I-Language
project	O
in	O
early	O
2000	O
as	O
a	O
replacement	O
for	O
the	O
Make	B-Application
build	B-Application
tool	I-Application
of	O
Unix	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
similar	O
to	O
Make	B-Application
,	O
but	O
is	O
implemented	O
using	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
language	I-Language
and	O
requires	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
Make	B-Application
,	O
which	O
uses	O
the	O
Makefile	O
format	O
,	O
Ant	B-Application
uses	O
XML	B-Protocol
to	O
describe	O
the	O
code	O
build	O
process	O
and	O
its	O
dependencies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Released	O
under	O
an	O
Apache	B-Application
License	I-Application
by	O
the	O
Apache	O
Software	O
Foundation	O
,	O
Ant	B-Application
is	O
an	O
open-source	B-Application
project	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ant	B-Application
(	O
"	O
Another	B-Application
Neat	I-Application
Tool	I-Application
"	O
)	O
was	O
conceived	O
by	O
James	O
Duncan	O
Davidson	O
while	O
preparing	O
Sun	O
Microsystems	O
's	O
reference	O
JSP	B-Language
and	O
Servlet	B-Application
engine	O
,	O
later	O
Apache	B-Language
Tomcat	I-Language
,	O
for	O
release	O
as	O
open-source	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
proprietary	B-Application
version	O
of	O
Make	B-Application
was	O
used	O
to	O
build	O
it	O
on	O
the	O
Solaris	B-Application
platform	O
,	O
but	O
in	O
the	O
open-source	B-Application
world	O
,	O
there	O
was	O
no	O
way	O
of	O
controlling	O
which	O
platform	O
was	O
used	O
to	O
build	O
Tomcat	B-Language
;	O
so	O
Ant	B-Application
was	O
created	O
as	O
a	O
simple	O
platform-independent	B-Operating_System
tool	O
to	O
build	O
Tomcat	B-Language
from	O
directives	O
in	O
an	O
XML	B-Protocol
"	O
build	O
file	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ant	B-Application
(	O
version	O
1.1	O
)	O
was	O
officially	O
released	O
as	O
a	O
stand-alone	O
product	O
on	O
July	O
19	O
,	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
proposals	O
for	O
an	O
Ant	B-Application
version	O
2	O
have	O
been	O
made	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
AntEater	O
by	O
James	O
Duncan	O
Davidson	O
,	O
Myrmidon	O
by	O
Peter	O
Donald	O
and	O
Mutant	O
by	O
Conor	O
MacNeill	O
,	O
none	O
of	O
which	O
were	O
able	O
to	O
find	O
large	O
acceptance	O
with	O
the	O
developer	O
community	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
one	O
time	O
(	O
2002	O
)	O
,	O
Ant	B-Application
was	O
the	O
build	B-Application
tool	I-Application
used	O
by	O
most	O
Java	B-Language
development	O
projects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
most	O
open	O
source	O
Java	B-Language
developers	O
included	O
build.xml	B-Application
files	O
with	O
their	O
distribution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
Ant	B-Application
made	O
it	O
trivial	O
to	O
integrate	O
JUnit	B-Language
tests	O
with	O
the	O
build	O
process	O
,	O
Ant	B-Application
allowed	O
developers	O
to	O
adopt	O
test-driven	O
development	O
and	O
extreme	O
programming	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2004	O
Apache	O
created	O
a	O
new	O
tool	O
with	O
a	O
similar	O
purpose	O
called	O
Maven	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gradle	B-Language
,	O
which	O
is	O
similar	O
software	O
,	O
was	O
created	O
in	O
2008	O
,	O
which	O
in	O
contrary	O
uses	O
groovy	O
(	O
and	O
a	O
few	O
other	O
languages	O
)	O
code	O
instead	O
of	O
XML	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
WOProject-Ant	O
is	O
just	O
one	O
of	O
many	O
examples	O
of	O
a	O
task	O
extension	O
written	O
for	O
Ant	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
extensions	O
are	O
installed	O
by	O
copying	O
their	O
.jar	O
files	O
into	O
ant	B-Application
's	O
lib	O
directory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Once	O
this	O
is	O
done	O
,	O
these	O
task	O
extensions	O
can	O
be	O
invoked	O
directly	O
in	O
the	O
typical	O
build.xml	B-Application
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
WOProject	O
extensions	O
allow	O
WebObjects	B-Language
developers	O
to	O
use	O
ant	B-Application
in	O
building	O
their	O
frameworks	O
and	O
apps	O
,	O
instead	O
of	O
using	O
Apple	O
's	O
Xcode	B-Operating_System
suite	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ant-contrib.unkrig.de	O
implements	O
tasks	O
and	O
types	O
for	O
networking	O
,	O
Swing	B-Language
user	O
interfaces	O
,	O
JSON	B-General_Concept
processing	O
and	O
other	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
task	O
extensions	O
exist	O
for	O
Perforce	B-General_Concept
,	O
.NET	B-Application
Framework	I-Application
,	O
EJB	B-Language
,	O
and	O
filesystem	O
manipulations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Below	O
is	O
listed	O
a	O
sample	O
build.xml	B-Application
file	O
for	O
a	O
simple	O
Java	B-Language
"	O
Hello	O
,	O
world	O
"	O
application	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
tells	O
Ant	B-Application
that	O
before	O
it	O
can	O
start	O
the	O
jar	O
target	O
it	O
must	O
first	O
complete	O
the	O
compile	O
target	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Within	O
each	O
target	O
are	O
the	O
actions	O
that	O
Ant	B-Application
must	O
take	O
to	O
build	O
that	O
target	O
;	O
these	O
are	O
performed	O
using	O
built-in	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
to	O
build	O
the	O
compile	O
target	O
Ant	B-Application
must	O
first	O
create	O
a	O
directory	O
called	O
classes	O
(	O
which	O
Ant	B-Application
will	O
do	O
only	O
if	O
it	O
does	O
not	O
already	O
exist	O
)	O
and	O
then	O
invoke	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
compiler	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
Ant	B-Application
task	O
has	O
the	O
same	O
name	O
as	O
the	O
common	O
Java	B-Language
command-line	O
utility	O
,	O
JAR	O
,	O
but	O
is	O
really	O
a	O
call	O
to	O
the	O
Ant	B-Application
program	O
's	O
built-in	O
JAR/ZIP	O
file	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
Ant	B-Application
tasks	O
delegate	O
their	O
work	O
to	O
external	O
programs	O
,	O
either	O
native	O
or	O
Java	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
use	O
Ant	B-Application
's	O
own	O
and	O
tasks	O
to	O
set	O
up	O
the	O
command	O
lines	O
,	O
and	O
handle	O
all	O
the	O
details	O
of	O
mapping	O
from	O
information	O
in	O
the	O
build	O
file	O
to	O
the	O
program	O
's	O
arguments	O
and	O
interpreting	O
the	O
return	O
value	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
,	O
,	O
,	O
)	O
,	O
by	O
trying	O
to	O
execute	O
the	O
task	O
on	O
a	O
system	O
without	O
the	O
underlying	O
program	O
on	O
the	O
path	O
,	O
or	O
without	O
a	O
full	O
Java	B-Language
Development	O
Kit	O
(	O
JDK	O
)	O
installed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ant	B-Application
is	O
intended	O
to	O
work	O
with	O
all	O
systems	O
for	O
which	O
Java	B-Language
runtimes	O
are	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
most	O
commonly	O
used	O
with	O
Windows	B-Application
,	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
macOS	B-Application
and	O
other	O
Unix	B-Application
operating	I-Application
systems	I-Application
but	O
has	O
also	O
been	O
used	O
on	O
other	O
platforms	O
such	O
as	O
OS/2	O
,	O
OpenVMS	O
,	O
Solaris	B-Application
,	O
HP-UX	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ant	B-Application
was	O
designed	O
to	O
be	O
more	O
portable	O
than	O
Make	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compared	O
to	O
Make	B-Application
,	O
Ant	B-Application
uses	O
less	O
platform-specific	O
shell	B-Operating_System
commands	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ant	B-Application
provides	O
built-in	O
functionality	O
that	O
is	O
designed	O
to	O
behave	O
the	O
same	O
on	O
all	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
sample	O
build.xml	B-Application
file	O
above	O
,	O
the	O
clean	O
target	O
deletes	O
the	O
classes	O
directory	O
and	O
everything	O
in	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
rm	B-Application
is	O
a	O
Unix-specific	O
command	O
unavailable	O
in	O
some	O
other	O
environments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
would	O
use	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
an	O
Ant	B-Application
build	O
file	O
the	O
same	O
goal	O
would	O
be	O
accomplished	O
using	O
a	O
built-in	O
command	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
Ant	B-Application
does	O
not	O
differentiate	O
between	O
forward	O
slash	O
or	O
backslash	O
for	O
directories	O
and	O
semicolon	O
or	O
colon	O
for	O
path	O
separators	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ant	B-Application
build	O
files	O
,	O
which	O
are	O
written	O
in	O
XML	B-Protocol
,	O
can	O
be	O
complex	O
and	O
verbose	O
,	O
as	O
they	O
are	O
hierarchical	O
,	O
partly	O
ordered	O
,	O
and	O
pervasively	O
cross-linked	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Changing	O
those	O
defaults	O
would	O
break	O
existing	O
Ant	B-Application
scripts	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ant	B-Application
has	O
limited	O
fault	O
handling	O
rules	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Creating	O
a	O
similar	O
task	O
in	O
Ant	B-Application
is	O
more	O
complex	O
:	O
a	O
separate	O
task	O
must	O
be	O
written	O
in	O
Java	B-Language
and	O
included	O
with	O
the	O
Ant	B-Application
build	O
file	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
handle	O
the	O
same	O
type	O
of	O
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
this	O
separation	O
can	O
enhance	O
the	O
readability	O
of	O
the	O
Ant	B-Application
script	I-Application
by	O
hiding	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
details	O
of	O
how	O
a	O
task	O
is	O
executed	O
on	O
different	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
exist	O
third-party	O
Ant	B-Application
extensions	O
(	O
called	O
antlibs	O
)	O
that	O
provide	O
much	O
of	O
the	O
missing	O
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
,	O
the	O
Eclipse	B-Application
integrated	B-Application
development	I-Application
environment	I-Application
(	O
IDE	O
)	O
can	O
build	O
and	O
execute	O
Ant	B-Application
scripts	I-Application
,	O
while	O
the	O
NetBeans	B-Application
IDE	I-Application
uses	O
Ant	B-Application
for	O
its	O
internal	O
build	B-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
both	O
these	O
IDEs	O
are	O
very	O
popular	O
development	O
platforms	O
,	O
they	O
can	O
simplify	O
Ant	B-Application
use	O
significantly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
As	O
a	O
bonus	O
,	O
Ant	B-Application
scripts	I-Application
generated	O
by	O
NetBeans	B-Application
can	O
be	O
used	O
outside	O
that	O
IDE	O
as	O
standalone	O
scripts	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
