Complex build systems can get quite large and I have not been successful
in finding an easy method of modularizing. Existing tasks such as 'ant'
load and execute a target during runtime (i.e. after the parent
buildfile has been parsed by the ProjectHelper). In most cases this is
not sufficient . consider the following examples
Example. build.xml
<project name="main">
.
</project>
Example. build-mod.xml
<project name="sub">
<target name="sub-target"/>
</project>
If ant is invoked on build.xml, there is no way (using the 'ant' task)
to specify a target in the second build file 'buildmod.xml'.
IMHO, what is needed is a top-level 'import' tasks that can be used as
such:
<project .>
<import buildfile="another-build-file.xml"/>
.
</project>
or alternatively, add an option to the Main class that would indicate a
list of build files to pre-parse/merge before executing.
Is there any work being done one this? I've a pretty good
implementation of the 'import' property and a hacked version of the
ProjectHelper class . any takers?
- Rodney
