How can I change the current working directory in Ant?
The Ant documentation has no <chdir> task, and it seems to me that it is the best practice NOT to change the current working directory.
But let's assume we still want to do it - how would you accomplish that? Thanks!
Following Mark O'Connor's hint in the question comments, I came up with the following solution:
<project name="cwd" default="parent">
<target name="parent">
<echo message="Current working directory in parent: ${basedir}" />
<ant antfile="../build.xml" dir="subdir" target="subDirTarget"
inheritAll="true" inheritRefs="true" />
</target>
<target name="subDirTarget">
<echo message="Current working directory in subDirTarget: ${basedir}" />
</target>
</project>
This works - output:
Buildfile: C:\Sandbox\parent\build.xml
parent:
[echo] Current working directory in parent: E:\Sandbox\parent
subDirTarget:
[echo] Current working directory in subDirTarget: E:\Sandbox\parent\subdir
BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 1 second
I also tried using Ant-Contrib's <var> task to change basedir, but that seemed to have no effect.
Related
I am trying to scan a folder in ant script and extract the version out of it, suppose file name is abc-1.0.0.exe/dmg. I want to get the 1.0.0 in Ant. Is there any way I can do without using ant contrib? I only found help with ant contrib which I don't want to use.
You might be able to use something like this, based on the <pathconvert> task with a regexmapper.
Here's the directory structure in this example:
$ find folder
folder
folder/abc-1.0.0.exe
folder/abc-1.0.0.exe/dmg
Here's the Ant buildfile:
<fileset dir="folder" id="folder"/>
<echo message="file is: ${toString:folder}" />
<pathconvert property="version">
<path path="${toString:folder}" />
<regexpmapper from=".*-(.*).exe.*" to="\1" />
</pathconvert>
<echo message="version is: ${version}" />
Output:
[echo] file is: abc-1.0.0.exe/dmg
[echo] version is: 1.0.0
Let me first provide the background of the problem I'm facing.
I have a directory structure as below.
c:\myDirectory
c:\myDirectory\Project1
c:\myDirectory\Scripts
Under the c:\myDirectory\Scripts there is a script that download the source code (from svn) and creates the c:\myDirectory\Project1 directory.
I have another ant scripts ( c:\myDirectory\Scripts**compile-source.xml ) that compiles the Project1
from an ant script build.xml that is downloaded to c:\myDirectory\Project1
Snippet for c:\myDirectory\Scripts\compile-source.xml
<project name="compile" default="buildAll" basedir=".">
<property file=".\build.properties">
</property>
.......
<import file="${project.home.path}/${project.name}/build.xml"/>
<target name="buildAll">
<antcall target="jar-pack"/>
</target>
</project>
Snippet for c:\myDirectory\Project1\build.xml.
<project name="CommonFeatures" default="jar-pack" basedir=".">
<description>
A build file for the Common Features project
</description>
....
</project>
Note that the basedir for the project is set as "." for both the above ant scripts.
When I execute the script c:\myDirectory\Scripts\compile-source.xml from the c:\myDirectory\Scripts directory the target "jar-pack" present in the c:\myDirectory\Project1\build.xml gets executed.
However, the problem is that basedir attribude in build.xml ( basedir="." ) is the current working directory and in this case its c:\myDirectory\Scripts. Hence the script build.xml errors out since the basedir for build.xml is expected to be c:\myDirectory\Project1. The build.xml script would have worked, if basedir="." were set to "c:\myDirectory\Project1", but unfortunately build.xml file comes from the source code that is downloaded and I'm unable to edit.
So here's my question, Is it possible to do any of the following.
Override the value of the attribude basedir="." in build.xml when the is done in c:\myDirectory\Scripts\compile-source.xml ?
Is it possible to change the basedir in build.xml by any other mechanism so that the script c:\myDirectory\Project1\build.xml is executed under directory c:\myDirectory\Project1 ?
Any other way to resolve this issue?
Any help from Ant experts to overcome this issue is highly appreciated.
You can update basedir using subant task. Check this answer
Create the following build.xml file (assuming it is in Z:/any/folder):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="project">
<target name="mytarget">
<subant target="debug">
<property name="basedir" value="X:/any/dir/with/project"/>
<fileset dir="Y:/any/folder/with" includes="build.xml"/>
</subant>
</target>
</project>
The you can execute ant mytarget from Z:/any/folder
You can specifically reference the location of your build file, which is described in this stack overflow thread. This would allow you to get and use the directory your build file resides in as a reference point.
For your case the usage of the subant or ant tasks may be better suited, but nevertheless...
You can (but you should know/consider the side-effects!) extend ant with the common ant-contrib task definitions and use the var task which is able to override properties. Make sure to use the latest version (> 1.0b3).
<!-- adjust to your path and include it somewhere at the beginning of your project file -->
<taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antlib.xml" classpath="lib/ant-contrib-1.0b3.jar" />
<!-- works e.g. for basedir = /foo/bar to update it to /foo/bar/.. ~ /foo -->
<var name="basedir" value="${basedir}/.." />
update: but one has to be careful, because this does not change . (current working directory) (so <property name="x" location="tmp" /> would be relative to . and not to basedir anymore ; update: setting basedir outside of ant or via <project basedir= also sets . to basedir!). Here is some test target proving the effect on both:
<target name="tst.dummy.basedir-override">
<!-- example output:
tst.dummy.basedir-override:
[echo] basedir before: basedir=D:\tst, '.'=D:\tst\.
[echo] updating it via 'var' to '..'
[echo] basedir now: basedir=D:\tst/.., '.'=D:\tst\.
-->
<property name="cur" location="." /> <!-- makes the relative path absolute -->
<echo message="basedir before: basedir=${basedir}, '.'=${cur}" />
<echo message="updating it via 'var' to '..'" />
<var name="basedir" value="${basedir}/.." />
<property name="cur2" location="." /> <!-- makes the relative path absolute -->
<echo message="basedir now: basedir=${basedir}, '.'=${cur2}" />
</target>
I have a following directory structure
root_dir
fixed_dir
random_dir
subdir1
subdir2
subdir2.1
subdir3
subdir3.1
subdir3.2
In the ANT build file I know the root_dir, fixed_dir, and one directory that is either random_dir or a subdirectory below random_dir (subdirX). I need to determine the path of random_dir given some subdirX. Is it possible to find this directory in ANT and if so, how?
Here is a tested solution for finding the immediate subdirectory of a root directory that contains some subdirectory subdirX at any level of nesting given the file structure provided in the question.
<property name="root.dir" location="${basedir}/root_dir" />
<property name="subdirX" value="subdir2.1" />
<target name="find-immediate-subdir-of-root-containing-subdirX">
<dirset dir="${root.dir}" includes="**/${subdirX}" id="mydirset" />
<pathconvert property="random_dir" pathsep="${line.separator}" refid="mydirset">
<mapper type="regexp"
from="^(${root.dir}${file.separator}[^${file.separator}]+).*"
to="\1"/>
</pathconvert>
<echo message="${random_dir}" />
</target>
Output
find-immediate-subdir-of-root-containing-subdirX:
[echo] /ant/project/basedir/root_dir/random_dir
BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 1 second
With Ant addon Flaka you'll get the parent as property of a file object (see Flaka Manual, section 3.7.2, i.e.
<project xmlns:fl="antlib:it.haefelinger.flaka">
<!-- let standard ant tasks, i.e. echo
understand EL expresssions -->
<fl:install-property-handler />
<echo>#{file('${basedir}').parent}</echo>
<!-- or without fl:install-property-handler use fl:echo-->
<fl:echo>#{file('${basedir}').parent}</fl:echo>
</project>
so you would use :
#{file('${yoursubdir}').parent
We have a large amount of apps. They all have a build.xml file located in the projects base directory. I am trying to create an ant script that will go through and call a specific target on each of the build.xml files in all the projects.
Here are the issues:
Some of the projects are in deeper directories than others.
Only some of the projects need to be built at a time.
I was trying to use subant + antfile and defining a CSV of file paths in a properties file, but this did not work. Below is what i have and the error i am getting.
If there is a better way to do this or you know what my problem is, please let me know! Thanks!
This is the property defined in a property file. I am wanting the person running the script to add the file paths in here that are relative to the current location of the script they are running.
projects.to.build=
This is the subant task i am trying to use in the main build script.
<filelist
id="projectNames"
dir="${basedir}"
files="${projects.to.build}"
/>
<target name="debugAll" description="Builds all the projects listed in the projectNames.properties file.">
<subant target="debug" antfile="${projects.to.build}">
</subant>
</target>
Here is the error i get when i try to run the build script when there are projects defined in the properties file. I am using the relative path. For example: ..\Apps\AnApp1\build.xml,..\Apps\AnApp2\build.xml,..\OtherApps\foo\AnotherApp1\build.xml
"No Build Path Specified" (at my subant task)
You specified the antfile attribute, so ANT was expecting to a single build.xml file.
The subant documentation describes how you can use a fileset as child parameter.
Here's an example:
<project name="Subant demo" default="run-debug-target">
<target name="run-debug-target">
<subant target="debug">
<fileset dir="." includes="**/build.xml" excludes="build.xml"/>
</subant>
</target>
</project>
Update
Alternatively a filelist could be used:
<project name="Dry run" default="run">
<target name="run">
<subant target="test">
<filelist dir="projects" files="one/build.xml,two/build.xml,three/build.xml,four/build.xml"/>
</subant>
</target>
</project>
Processing the following build files:
projects/one/build.xml
projects/two/build.xml
projects/three/build.xml
projects/four/build.xml
Is it possible to run the target in the all the build files concurrently ?
E.g.
<project name="Dry run" default="run">
<target name="run">
<subant target="test">
<filelist dir="projects" files="one/build.xml,two/build.xml,three/build.xml,four/build.xml"/>
</subant>
</target>
</project>
In this example, is there any way to run target "test" present in all the build files (one/build.xml,two/build.xml,three/build.xml,four/build.xml) concurrently ?
I have setup an ant script as eclipse builder to automatically run all my tests, like below:
<project name="auto-test" default="test">
<property name="tst-dir" location="C:\STAF\services\custom\TopCoder\bin" />
<path id="classpath.base" />
<path id="classpath.test">
<pathelement location="D:\eclipse\eclipse\plugins\org.junit4_4.3.1\junit.jar" />
<pathelement location="${tst-dir}" />
<path refid="classpath.base" />
</path>
<target name="test" description="Run the tests">
<junit>
<classpath refid="classpath.test" />
<formatter type="brief" usefile="false" />
<test name="testDataGenerator.test.AllTests" />
</junit>
</target>
</project>
It was all good before I changed a test fixture file from absolute path to relative path:
SAXReader reader = new SAXReader();
Document document = reader.read(new File(".").getCanonicalPath()+"\\conf\\TestData.xml");
The ant task now try to open D:\eclipse\eclipse\conf\TestData.xml, instead of C:\STAF\services\custom\TopCoder\conf\TestData.xml, I've also try to run AllTests manually from Eclipse and it's all good.
Has anyone met similar problem before?
Thanks in advance.
PS. ANT_HOME=D:\eclipse\eclipse\plugins\org.apache.ant_1.7.0.v200706080842
Follow up:
I tried to run the ant script from command line, and find below:
C:\STAF\services\custom\TopCoder>ant -f c:\STAF\services\custom\TopCoder\task\build.xml, the ant script works correctly.
C:>ant -f c:\STAF\services\custom\TopCoder\task\build.xml, the script will claim: [junit] C:\conf\TestData.xml (The system cannot find the path specified)
I've also checked eclipse builder setting, there seems nothing to change the path to D:\eclipse\eclipse.
Java resolves relative paths against the current user directory, which is typically the directory from where the java program was invoked.
One way to overcome this issue is to define an environmental variable for your base path. Then, you could easily use "relative paths" (meaning, create absolute paths by concatenating the base path and the relative path).
Here is the solution I find:
Just as kgiannakakis mentioned, Ant also start executing its task from the location it was invoked, so we just need to change the working directory setting of our custom eclipse builder.
In the JRE tab, choose "Execution Environment".
Change the Working directory to your current workspace.
Looks like I've missed the karma but anyway...
We do this:-
Build.xml
<project name="whatever">
<property file="build.${env.COMPUTERNAME}.properties"/>
<property file="build.properties"/>
build.properties
project.root=..
build.file.dir=${project.root}/buildfiles
deploy.dir=${project.root}/deploy
which of course you can override by creating your OWN build.computername.properties to allow for developer path differences etc