On Mon, 22 Jan 2001, Ariel Partners LLC wrote: > Hello: > > We at Ariel are testing out both the Ant and RPM tools to help implement an > automated build and release environment. The obvious question ensues: what > about an Ant task to control RPM? > > Ant is (roughly) a replacement for Make, using XML build files instead of > Makefiles and > written in 100% java. In order to extend its capabilities, you write a > new subclass > of "Task" in java and add it to a jar file-- rather than writing a make > rule using a > pseudo shell language. It is super portable-- as portable as java. > > RPM (RPM Package Manager, formerly known as the Redhat Package Manager) > does things like preparing packages, installing them, validating them, > configuring them, building, etc. The "spec" file is roughly RPM's > version of the > Ant "build.xml" file. > > As for the integration, at the very least the Ant task could call RPM with > certain options. > But perhaps it could even help automate the creation of new RPM spec files? > > Challenges: RPM is written in C. I don't believe that it is open source. > It requires a UNIX like environment in order to > run including shells, certain GNU shared libraries, and the berkeley database. > The RPM spec file looks alot like a Makefile, with all of its > "wrinkles." On the whole, > RPM is crying out to be rewritten using Java and XML IMHO ;-) > > Anyway, has anyone else had this crazy idea? > > Have any of the other Ant tasks had to call native code libraries? Is it > folly to even > think about it? Should it instead be done by punting and calling out to a > shell task? >
I successfully build rpm's with Ant all the time. I've currently just called the <exec> task which makes a system call but I've been thinking of working on an <rpm> task. josh
