Perhaps we should explore a new mechanism for extension libraries in NAnt, with inspiration taken from the Java jre/lib/ext idea...
4) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, and add an xml descriptor/locator in NAnt/bin/ext which describes the library.
NAnt could scan the bin/ext folder for descriptors on startup in a similar fashion to the NAnt.exe.config method, but this allows for specific support such as disabling all extension libraries, or disabling a named library when invoking NAnt.
why not extend NAnt.exe.config rather than adding another config file. One of the things I like about the Nant model is that you don't *need* to have a task registration scheme the way Ant does because of the attribute based auto-scan mechanism.
PRO: Libraries decoupled from NAnt installation PRO: Libraries "automatically" discovered on NAnt startup
not really - only if that xml file has been setup.
PRO: Libraries can be easily registered/deregistered by adding or removing their own locator... there's no possibility of corrupting your NAnt install by breaking the xml structure - just one library.except that you couldn't register NAntContrib itself if you didn't already have it registered in order to be able to use those tasks :)
CON: It's not implemented yet
The other thing I like about this approach is that is allows extension to namespaces in the future... the namespace can be specified in the xml locator (by default uses the default namespace), or the namespace for a named library can be overridden from the commandline when invoking NAnt (In case of a namespace clash with a particular build script).
Also, it would be reasonably simple to create a <registerlibrary> (and <deregisterlibrary>?) NAntContrib task to create this locator dynamically.
I still think that it would be better to extend the existing config file extra functionality is required. It already allows you to specify paths to scan for assemblies and I think to exclude specific assemblies.
Ian
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