RE: PROPOSAL: New Java Build Feature

[Denis, Ronald J (Ronald)** CTR **]

I am currently using ant.  I recognize that some folks have reservations to
using ant and I respect those issues.  My only concern is that the JDE will
still support my use of ant.  Either by incorporating jde-ant or by allowing
me (as I do now) to kick off a script file (build.sh) which runs ant.

Ron Denis 
E-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Consultant
Lucent Technologies Inc.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Kinnucan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, March 19, 2001 8:05 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: PROPOSAL: New Java Build Feature
> 
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> The JDE has a Java build feature that relies on javac 
> dependency checking
> to rebuild a project. This feature has been broken by the 
> reduced level of
> dependency checking in recent versions of javac. 
> 
> Lately I have begun using a new approach to using javac for 
> building my
> Java projects that appears fast and perfectly reliable. I'm 
> considering
> replacing the current Java build scheme with this new version 
> and would
> like your feedback. 
> 
> The new approach relies on automatic creation of special 
> classes, called
> compile masters, that reference every Java class in a 
> project. The compile
> masters correspond to a makefile. The Java build algorithm creates a
> compile master in the root package and in each descendent 
> package, thereby
> creating a hierarchy of compile masters that mirrors the 
> package hierarchy.
> It then uses javac to compile the toplevel compile master. 
> Compiling the
> root compile master causes javac to check every class in the 
> project to
> ensure that it is current and recompile any classes that are 
> not current.
> 
> The benefits of this approach are:
> 
> 1. No need for makefile.
> 
> 2. Fast -- only one invocation of javac is needed to rebuild 
> a project,
>    no matter how big the project is.
> 
> 3. Reliable -- every out-of-date class in the project is recompiled.
> 
> The Java build feature would include a build-and-run command 
> and would also
> allow you to specify multiple projects in a single build 
> command to handle
> the cases where one project is dependent on classes in 
> another project.
> 
> Note that this new build would not replace the JDE's support 
> for using make
> to build projects. You could continue to use make as an 
> alternative to the
> Java build feature.
> 
> What do you think of this proposal?
> 
> - Paul
>