Comments on: ant aargh http://malvasiabianca.org/archives/2005/11/ant-aargh/ Tue, 22 May 2012 01:20:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: David Carlton http://malvasiabianca.org/archives/2005/11/ant-aargh/comment-page-1/#comment-4069 David Carlton Sun, 13 Nov 2005 21:47:26 +0000 /?p=186#comment-4069 I didn't think it did dependencies on the source-code level, but I did think it got information from the .class files to do dependencies. Am I getting any improvement from using ant over using make with no dependencies other than a class file depending on a single java file? I didn’t think it did dependencies on the source-code level, but I did think it got information from the .class files to do dependencies.

Am I getting any improvement from using ant over using make with no dependencies other than a class file depending on a single java file?

]]> By: John Cowan http://malvasiabianca.org/archives/2005/11/ant-aargh/comment-page-1/#comment-4068 John Cowan Sun, 13 Nov 2005 15:28:23 +0000 /?p=186#comment-4068 Your mistake is in thinking that Ant somehow does dependency analysis at the source-code level. It doesn't. The javac task simply looks for class files that are out-of-date with respect to their corresponding source files. Ant as a whole analyzes dependencies only at the task level. However, there is JavaMake at http://www.experimentalstuff.com/Technologies/JavaMake/ (that's a Sun Labs website), which does do full class-level dependency analysis and can run either inside Ant or stand-alone. Disclaimer: I haven't used it. Note one limitation of the Java class file format noted on that site: if you change a class or interface containing public static final values, JavaMake can't figure out which classes actually import this value, and assumes that all classes must be recompiled. Your mistake is in thinking that Ant somehow does dependency analysis at the source-code level. It doesn’t. The javac task simply looks for class files that are out-of-date with respect to their corresponding source files. Ant as a whole analyzes dependencies only at the task level.

However, there is JavaMake at http://www.experimentalstuff.com/Technologies/JavaMake/ (that’s a Sun Labs website), which does do full class-level dependency analysis and can run either inside Ant or stand-alone. Disclaimer: I haven’t used it.

Note one limitation of the Java class file format noted on that site: if you change a class or interface containing public static final values, JavaMake can’t figure out which classes actually import this value, and assumes that all classes must be recompiled.

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