Ant

Ant

Apache Ant is a software tool for automating software build processes. It is similar to make but is implemented using the Java language, requires the Java platform, and is best suited to building Java projects.


The most immediately noticeable difference between Ant and make is that Ant uses XML to describe the build process and its dependencies, whereas make has its Makefile format. By default the XML file is named build.xml.


Why another build tool when there is already make, gnumake, nmake, jam, and others? Because all those tools have limitations that Ant's original author couldn't live with when developing software across multiple platforms. Make-like tools are inherently shell-based: they evaluate a set of dependencies, then execute commands not unlike what you would issue on a shell. This means that you can easily extend these tools by using or writing any program for the OS that you are working on; however, this also means that you limit yourself to the OS, or at least the OS type, such as Unix, that you are working on.