comparison of java build tools

1. Java Build Tools

2.  Desired Features
 Ant
 Maven
 Ant vs Maven
CONTENTS

3. Whats expected of build
• Versioning
• Compile Java code, build jars
• Execute tests and report results
• Run quality-check tools (PMD, Findbugs..)
• Build vs. deploy vs. release
• Cross-platform
• IDE Support
• Documentation / Support
tools

4.  Java-based build tool
 Mature
 Stable
 Rich library of tasks
WHY ANT!

5.  Ant With Convention Over Configuration
 Dependency Management
 Uniform Build System.
 Project Structure.
 Coherent site of project information along-with
Internationalization.
 Release management and distribution publication.
WHY MAVEN!

6. Concerns to build a project
 Project directory structure
 Directory naming conventions
 The build output

7.  Contains project information and configuration details used to
build the project
◦ – Project dependencies
◦ – Commands (goals) that can be executed
Project Object Model
◦ – Plugins
◦ – Metadata
 The minimum requirement for a POM are the following:
◦ project root
◦ modelVersion - should be set to 4.0.0
◦ groupId - the id of the project's group.
◦ artifactId - the id of the artifact (project)
◦ version - the version of the artifact under the specified group
e.g.:
◦ <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
◦ <groupId>com.cisco.ccw.config</groupId>
◦ <artifactId>ConfigService</artifactId>
◦ <packaging>jar</packaging>
◦ <version>7.0</version>
◦ <name>CCW Config Services</name>
◦ <url>http://www.cisco.com</url>

9. Project inheritance

10. Project aggregation

11. Build Lifecycle and Phases
 Most important default phases:
◦ Validate
◦ Compile
◦ Test
◦ Package
◦ Install
◦ Deploy
 Some common phases not default:
◦ Clean
◦ Site

12. Dependency scope
 Compile: Available in all classpaths (default)
 Provided: The JDK or the container provides it
 Runtime: Only required for execution, not for
compilation
 Test: Only required for testing, not for normal use (not
deployed)
 System: You provide it locally, not looked up in a repo
 <dependency>
 <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
 <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
 <version>1.4</version>
 <scope>compile</scope>
 </dependency>

13. FEATURES ANT MAVEN
Dependency Management
Versioning Manually defined
Compile Java code, build jars
Execute tests, report results, fail build on failed tests
Build vs. deploy vs. release Manually defined
Full control when needed Custom XML Write custom
“scripts” plugin or
embedded Ant
script
Documentation / Support Excellent Growing but still
Ant vs Maven
inconsistent
Run quality check tools (PMD, FindBugs, JavaDoc) 3rd party task 3rd party plugins
libraries
File generation (XmlBeans, XSL, Velocity, AspectJ) 3rd party task 3rd party plugins
libraries
Generating the Site

14. Reference
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_build_automation_softwar
e
 http://maven.apache.org/maven-features.html