Ant is an open-source, Java-based build tool provided by the Apache Software Foundation. Like UNIX make, Windows nmake, and other build tools, Ant can be used to automate repetitive tasks such as building software, deploying Web sites, and configuring application servers. Unlike make, nmake, and other shell-based build tools, Ant build commands use a platform-independent XML format.
Ant build files use XML syntax consisting of targets and tasks.
Targets define the sequence of commands to build a deliverable or
achieve a specific outcome; for example: compiling Java source files
or rebooting a server. Targets have a name that allowed them to
be invoked from the Ant command line. For example, this command
invokes the target named create-ejbjar in the
build file mybuild.xml:
ant -f mybuild.xml create-ejbjar
The build sequence in each target is defined by calling Ant tasks. Tasks perform a step in the build process, such as invoking the Java compiler, copying or deleting files, creating a Java archive, or running an XSLT transform. Tasks are implemented as Java classes. Ant includes many built-in tasks and EAServer provides additional configuration tasks.
For more information, see the Ant documentation on the Apache Ant Web site.
