Develop Reference

Failing to build working .jar file using ANT

I've made a simple 'AntExecutor' app in eclipse that can run ant tasks programmatically and it works. But for university purposes I need to keep it independant from IDE. So, funnily, I'm strugling to create ant tasks which would compile,build my 'AntExecutor' app (which executes ant-tasks) :)
Stripped-down version I'm currently trying to define ant-tasks for only contains one source file in 'storageAccess' package:
./src/storageAccess/AntExecutor.java
I've got some libraries that AntExecutor.java makes use of at:
./lib
And the build file is at:
./build.xml
AntExecutor.java also needs ant libraries to execute ant tasks so they're added to CP at compile at. in build file:
<classpath path="${build};D:/DevTools/apache-ant-1.9.8/lib/;"/>
Full build.xml file:
<project name="AntExecutor" default="dist" basedir=".">
<description>
simple example build file
</description>
<!-- set global properties for this build -->
<property name="src" location="src"/>
<property name="build" location="build/classes/"/>
<property name="dist" location="build/jar/"/>
<target name="init">
<!-- Create the time stamp -->
<tstamp/>
<!-- Create the build directory structure used by compile -->
<mkdir dir="${build}"/>
</target>
<target name="compile" depends="init"
description="compile the source " >
<!-- Compile the java code from ${src} into ${build} -->
<javac destdir="${build}">
<src path="${src}"/>
<classpath path="${build};D:/DevTools/apache-ant-1.9.8/lib/;"/>
</javac>
</target>
<target name="dist" depends="compile"
description="generate the distribution" >
<!-- Create the distribution directory -->
<mkdir dir="${dist}"/>
<!-- Put everything in ${build} into RunExecutor.jar file -->
<jar destfile = "${dist}/RunExecutor.jar" basedir="${build}">
<manifest>
<attribute name = "Main-Class" value = "storageAccess.AntExecutor"/>
<attribute name = "Class-Path" value = "D:/DevTools/apache-ant-1.9.8/lib/;"/>
</manifest>
</jar>
<copy todir="${dist}\lib">
<fileset dir="lib"/>
</copy>
</target>
<target name="clean"
description="clean up" >
<!-- Delete the ${build} and ${dist} directory trees -->
<delete dir="${build}"/>
<delete dir="${dist}"/>
</target>
</project>
now if i run 'ant dist' command I get no errors, build succeeds and RunExecutor.jar file is created at ./build/jar
To check contents of RunExecutor.jar, I ran: jar tf build/jar/RunExecutor.jar
result:
META-INF/
META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
storageAccess/
storageAccess/AntExecutor.class
so it seems like storageAcces.AntExecutor class was indeed successfully compiled to .jar file.
However, if i try running it like this: java -jar build/jar/RunExecutor.jar
I get this error:
Error: Could not find or load main class storageAccess.AntExecutor
Main-question:
How come it can't find the class that is clearly in it.(as 'jar tf' shows) how do I fix this?
Also, what is the corret way to add ant/lib/*.jar files to CP for compiling and running 'RunExecutor.jar' ?
is it okay just to specify the path to them as I do now? :
<attribute name = "Class-Path" value = "D:/DevTools/apache-ant-1.9.8/lib/;"/>
or, maybe I should use wildcard like:
<attribute name = "Class-Path" value = "D:/DevTools/apache-ant-1.9.8/lib/*.jar;"/>
or, should I frustratingly add all the files one by one?
<attribute name = "Class-Path" value = "D:/DevTools/apache-ant-1.9.8/lib/ant.jar;"/> , etc...

The problem with
<attribute name = "Class-Path" value = "D:/DevTools/apache-ant-1.9.8/lib/;"/>
is you are hard-coding path which is not a good practice. This jar will not execute on other machines as there are chances that they won't have lib under same location.
You can directly create executable jar from eclipse project itself. For steps refer this.
You can also put required lib in same jar file and they will by default get added to class-path.

Building with Ant in Eclipse - javac not recognizing lambda expression (Java 1.8)

I am trying to build an existing project using Ant in Eclipse. The problem is that javac does not recognize the use of a Lambda expression (error: illegal start of expression) in one of the files, and the build fails during the compile phase of the Ant.
Within Eclipse, I've ensured that the Java Compiler compliance level is set to 1.8 and that Java 8 is in the Java Build Path.
I've also ensured that the my Path, JAVA_HOME, and JRE_HOME all point to my Java 8 directory (in Path it points to the /bin directory).
For giggles, the compile section of my build.xml file is:
<target name="compile" depends="setup">
<javac destdir="${base}/${build.dir}"
srcdir="${base}/${src.dir}"
deprecation="true"
verbose="false"
includeantruntime="false">
<classpath refid="libs" />
</javac>
</target>
I'm not really sure what to do next. I've resorted to restarting Eclipse hoping for magic to happen. Any suggestions or help are welcome! Thanks in advance.

Adding <echo> Java version: ${ant.java.version}</echo> to my build.xml revealed that Ant was still running Java 1.7.
I added the directory location of my Java 8 javac and modified the javac task with the executable and fork attributes to use it:
<property name="javac1.8" location="/path/to/java8/bin/javac" />
<target name="compile" depends="setup">
<javac executable="{$javac1.8}" fork="yes"
destdir="${base}/${build.dir}"
srcdir="${base}/${src.dir}"
deprecation="true"
verbose="false"
includeantruntime="false">
<classpath refid="libs" />
</javac>
</target>
Thanks so much for the comments #Jim Garrison, #wero, and #greg-449. Your powers combined lead me to my answer.

Ant: Class not found: javac1.8

I am trying to build a project using Ant in eclipse. I right-clicked on build.xml > Run As > Ant Build. However, I am getting the following error:
BUILD FAILED
C:\Users\David\eclipse\test-project\build.xml:26: Class not found: javac1.8
and also a warning:
compile:
[javac] C:\Users\David\eclipse\test-project\build.xml:26: warning: 'includeantruntime' was not set, defaulting to build.sysclasspath=last; set to false for repeatable builds
As I read in other posts that this might be due to having an ant version that is too old or not having set the environment variables correctly here is all the info:
C:\>java -version
java version "1.8.0_05"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_05-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.5-b02, mixed mode)
C:\>ant -version
Apache Ant(TM) version 1.9.3 compiled on December 23 2013
C:\>echo %JAVA_HOME%
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_05
C:\>echo %JRE_HOME%
C:\Program Files\Java\jre8
EDIT:
Here is the whole build.xml, line 26 is the javac tag:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<project name="test-project" default="main" basedir=".">
<!-- Sets variables which can later be used. -->
<!-- The value of a property is accessed via ${} -->
<property name="src.dir" location="src" />
<property name="build.dir" location="bin" />
<property name="dist.dir" location="dist" />
<property name="docs.dir" location="docs" />
<!-- Deletes the existing build, docs and dist directory-->
<target name="clean">
<delete dir="${build.dir}" />
<delete dir="${docs.dir}" />
<delete dir="${dist.dir}" />
</target>
<!-- Creates the build, docs and dist directory-->
<target name="makedir">
<mkdir dir="${build.dir}" />
<mkdir dir="${docs.dir}" />
<mkdir dir="${dist.dir}" />
</target>
<!-- Compiles the java code (including the usage of library for JUnit -->
<target name="compile" depends="clean, makedir">
<javac srcdir="${src.dir}" destdir="${build.dir}">
</javac>
</target>
<!-- Creates Javadoc -->
<target name="docs" depends="compile">
<javadoc packagenames="src" sourcepath="${src.dir}" destdir="${docs.dir}">
<!-- Define which files / directory should get included, we include all -->
<fileset dir="${src.dir}">
<include name="**" />
</fileset>
</javadoc>
</target>
<!--Creates the deployable jar file -->
<target name="jar" depends="compile">
<jar destfile="${dist.dir}\test-project1.jar" basedir="${build.dir}">
<manifest>
<attribute name="Main-Class" value="test.Main" />
</manifest>
</jar>
</target>
<target name="main" depends="compile, jar, docs">
<description>Main target</description>
</target>
</project>

The version of Ant bundled with your version of Eclipse is not compatible with Java 1.8.
Go to the Ant download page, and extract the latest version somewhere appropriate onto your filesystem.
In Eclipse, go to Window > Preferences > Ant > Runtime, click the Ant Home... button, and select the location that you extracted the newly downloaded Ant to.

To make it still more clear.
1>Set JAVA_HOME,JRE_HOME and Update Ant to 1.9
2>Over build.xml right click => run as (this takes into configuration)==>Now in this Edit Configuration and launch pop-up window
select Main tab then the third form field called "Arguments"
add:
-Dbuild.compiler=javac1.7
3> In build.xml add includeantruntime="false"
<javac srcdir="${src}" destdir="${bin}" debug="true" encoding="ISO-8859-1" includeantruntime="false">
<classpath refid="my.classpath"/>
</javac>
It should compile without any message

Mr. studro is right. I just confirmed an example on Ubuntu 14.04
sudo apt-get install ant
ant -version
Apache Ant (TM) Version 1.9.3 compiled on April August 2014
works perfectly in eclipse, just follow the steps described by Mr studro to configure the 'Ant Home' in eclipse with "/usr/share/ant".Regards, Stéphane.

I think, what you are seeing is Ant Bug 53347 (see https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=53347).
If so, try either pf the following workarounds:
Set the property "build.compiler" to a meaningful value like "javac1.7", or "javac1.3".
Set the "compiler" attribute of the "javac" element of your build script to either of the above values.
For all possible values, and their meaning, see http://ant.apache.org/manual/Tasks/javac.html

Make sure your source files are in "ProjectDirectory/src".

I already did some extensive googling before asking this question but continuing that I found a solution here:
This issue seems to only appear when using JDK 1.8 so using JDK 1.7 instead solves the problem. The following line needs to be added to eclipse.ini:
-vm "path-to-jdk-1.7\bin\javaw.exe"

Why is my Ant classpath ok in Eclipse but empty on Jenkins?

I am running my Ant build.xml file both locally and on a server running Jenkins.
Locally, inside Eclipse, the build works wonderfully. I set the classpath using:
<path id="classpath">
<fileset dir="${lib.dir}" includes="**/*.jar" />
</path>
and then I use the following when I run a target:
<javac srcdir="${src.dir}" destdir="${build.dir}" includeantruntime="false">
<classpath refid="classpath" />
</javac>
When I debug using echo the classpath shows all the available jars which are in my project/lib folder.
However, when I Jenkins fetches this build.xml file and runs it remotely, it prints an empty classpath (using the same echo target).
Why do my class paths differ based on Eclipse versus Jenkins?

Your build environment on you Jenkins server is going to look a bit different from your desktop dev env.
Sanity check: where/how is ${lib.dir} provided with a value?
Usually it is set with a property in the build file - can you maybe post that here also?

ant deploy problem

I am working on a spring project. I use ant to deploy application and STS (eclipse based) IDE to develop. I set the CATALINA_HOME environment variable
echo $CATALINA_HOME
/home/username/springsource/apache-tomcat
When I run the deploy ant task from IDE it deploys to a folder under
/home/username/workspace/myproject/${env.CATALINA_HOME}/webapp
but not
/home/username/springsource/apache-tomcat/webapp
Do you know any fix?
My build.properties file
src.dir=src
web.dir=web
build.dir=${web.dir}/WEB-INF/classes
name=myproject
appserver.home=${env.CATALINA_HOME}
deploy.path=${appserver.home}/webapps
appserver.lib=${appserver.home}/lib
and build.xml file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="kervan" basedir="." default="usage">
<property environment="env"/>
<property file="build.properties"/>
<path id="cp">
<fileset dir="${web.dir}/WEB-INF/lib">
<include name="*.jar"/>
</fileset>
<fileset dir="${appserver.lib}">
<include name="servlet-api.jar"/>
</fileset>
<pathelement path="${build.dir}"/>
</path>
<target name="usage">
<echo message=""/>
<echo message="${name} build file"/>
<echo message="-----------------------------------"/>
<echo message=""/>
<echo message="Available targets are:"/>
<echo message=""/>
<echo message="build --> Build the application"/>
<echo message="deploy --> Deploy application as a WAR file"/>
<echo message=""/>
</target>
<target name="build" description="Compile main source tree java files">
<mkdir dir="${build.dir}"/>
<javac destdir="${build.dir}" source="1.6" target="1.6"
debug="true" deprecation="false" optimize="false"
failonerror="true">
<src path="${src.dir}"/>
<classpath refid="cp"/>
</javac>
</target>
<target name="deploy" depends="build" description="Deploy application as a WAR file">
<war destfile="${name}.war"
webxml="${web.dir}/WEB-INF/web.xml">
<fileset dir="${web.dir}">
<include name="**/*.*"/>
</fileset>
</war>
<copy todir="${deploy.path}" overwrite="true">
<fileset dir=".">
<include name="*.war"/>
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
</project>

Try putting the following after the two <property> lines:
<echo message="CATALINA_HOME=${env.CATALINA_HOME}" />
and see what it outputs. If it in fact outputs the correct value, then something strange may be happening. If it outputs the literal string
CATALINA_HOME=${env.CATALINA_HOME}
then somehow your ant script hasn't picked up the environment variable.
Note that when you set an environment variable for your system, only applications launched AFTER the variable is set will recognize the new variable. And variables set from the command line will only be recognized if the application being launched is being launched from that same command line session.

If you're running from within Eclipse or an Eclipse-like environment, Eclipse can be kind of weird in that depending on how you launch it, it's startup scripts won't make your environment natively available to your in-IDE Ant build process.
With my Eclipse-based Ant build, I had to manually set the environment. So for me, I right click on my project & go to "Properties". Then I click on the "Builders" section. I select my "Ant Builder" and click "Edit...". Under this section there's an "Environment" tab where you can specify environment variables and their corresponding values.
Even if you're not using Eclipse exactly like I was, poke around in the build properties and you should be able to find a way to specify environment variables and make them available to the build process.

Is CATALINA_HOME set in your environment?
e.g. Windows
echo %CATALINA_HOME%
Linux
echo $CATALINA_HOME
You could always hardcode the value in your properties file if it's not getting resolved correctly but provided it's in your environment then it should work.
The forum here discusses the same problem:
http://www.nabble.com/%3Cproperty-environment%3D%E2%80%9Denv%E2%80%9D%3E-doesn%27t-pick-up-an-environment-variable-td21481164.html

When run from eclipse, I don't believe the environment is passed to ant. You will have to specify each of the environment variables (and the values) that you want passed to ant in the configuration of the build file within eclipse.

if you are set your environmental variable in global
/etc/environment
thats the problem in Ubuntu. Ant does not pick the environment variable from here.
But the echo $CATALINA_HOME works fine in terminal. I am facing the same problem.
set your environment in .bashrc may fix your problem.

I recently suffered a similar issue.
The problem was in the CATALINA_HOME environment variable: I needed to close the path with a backslash ("/"):
$ export CATALINA_HOME=/home/username/springsource/apache-tomcat/
After fixing that I could deploy the application with ant.

Please make sure you end your path with a / and it shall solve your problem.
example: export JAVA_HOME=/opt/java/
instead of: export JAVA_HOME=/opt/java