I will spend some time over the next few days and weeks trying to use Gradle as a Gant replacement. I will also look to create a Gradle Ant task and using Ant XML scripts from Gradle. Some immediate thoughts though:
1. I need to find out how Gradle supports what in Gant are called tools and target sets. Basically this is the partitioning of bits of build script into reusable components. This is not plugins a la Java plugin or Groovy plugin, though these do much of what Gant target sets do (but they are a bit different). If anyone has any hints and help to assist me building up the right idioms quickly that would be most helpful. 2. I can guarantee that using the label createTask instead of target is going to create barriers to entry for Ant people (trivial I know but the biggest barriers are often the most trivial ones). I am almost certainly going to propose an alias for createTask so that Gradle scripts can look more or less like Gant scripts since this has created a very low barrier to entry for Ant people. 3. The use of the -q option everywhere in the documentation is going to be another of those very trivial things that create a big barrier to entry. Gradle appears to have an option set that follows neither Ant or Maven and this creates potential for barriers to entry. Is there a table that maps idiomatic Ant and Maven use cases to Gradle use cases? 4. The manual needs to deal a lot more with the "replacement of Ant" and "replacement of Maven" aspects. Gradle is positioning itself to replace both Ant and Maven, but so far emphasizes the "configuration over configuration" and so gets thought of only as a Maven replacement using Ivy, the Ant replacement aspects do seem to be getting lost. (This is not a fact, just a perception.) More later, thanks. -- Russel. ==================================================== Dr Russel Winder Partner Concertant LLP t: +44 20 7585 2200, +44 20 7193 9203 41 Buckmaster Road, f: +44 8700 516 084 London SW11 1EN, UK. m: +44 7770 465 077
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
