Magic - a new way to build powerful ANT build scripts for Java projects quickly
I have discovered Magic!
I installed it this weekend on one of my Macs so I could give it a whirl.
It looks like a much better, faster way to create automated builds than just creating a simple ANT build file and then incrementally adding, and adding, and adding to it.
It is pretty easy to set up.
Maven looked intriguing. It is powerful. It knows how to harness lots of powerful open source development tools into your automated build process. Maven even has its own Eclipse plugin. However, people also complain about Maven. I have not done much with it so I do not know. It does give me some pause though. If something out there does just about as much and does not have major drawbacks that would be great.
Magic basically supplies an antlib file for your ANT installation and creates a couple of standard ANT XML template files that your projects can import. When you start a new system, created out of one or more projects, you create a little XML file that describes the overall system in terms of the projects that go into it. Also there are the ANT build.xml files to create for each project. However, they are simple: they basically just need to import standard.xml or reactor.xml.
Magic looks like it would not have been possible without the new import element that was added in ANT 1.6. So if you are wondering why someone did not create something like this sooner, that is why.
It will be interesting to see if a bunch of sites adopt Magic as their project site's build technology or not.
I installed it this weekend on one of my Macs so I could give it a whirl.
It looks like a much better, faster way to create automated builds than just creating a simple ANT build file and then incrementally adding, and adding, and adding to it.
It is pretty easy to set up.
Maven looked intriguing. It is powerful. It knows how to harness lots of powerful open source development tools into your automated build process. Maven even has its own Eclipse plugin. However, people also complain about Maven. I have not done much with it so I do not know. It does give me some pause though. If something out there does just about as much and does not have major drawbacks that would be great.
Magic basically supplies an antlib file for your ANT installation and creates a couple of standard ANT XML template files that your projects can import. When you start a new system, created out of one or more projects, you create a little XML file that describes the overall system in terms of the projects that go into it. Also there are the ANT build.xml files to create for each project. However, they are simple: they basically just need to import standard.xml or reactor.xml.
Magic looks like it would not have been possible without the new import element that was added in ANT 1.6. So if you are wondering why someone did not create something like this sooner, that is why.
It will be interesting to see if a bunch of sites adopt Magic as their project site's build technology or not.
posted by John Collins | 10:35 PM
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