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From: "Thomas Haas" <thomas.haas@softwired-inc.com>
To: <ant-dev@jakarta.apache.org>
References: <BEEPKHMEGMGIEMBFMOINOEJLCEAA.john.pappin@jmonkey.com>
Subject: Re: Platform independent classpath in build.xml?
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 16:53:43 +0200
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----- Original Message -----
From: Brill Pappin <john.pappin@jmonkey.com>
>
> That's exactly my point... if you standardize the path separator, then the
> build file become platform independent. As it is now, you must use a
> separator from unix or windows... just because they are interchangeable
does
> not make them platform independent. The fact that unix and windows
> separators are interchangeable at all, is really a convenience for those
who
> are used to using a particular separator, but its not to someone who is
> familiar with an entirely different separator.
>
> > I suggest you have a read of the core.html document in the spec
directory.
> > It discusses some of these issues.
>
> Right... ok... so basically you say that ":" is the ant path separator...
> this is what I want to hear... however my point still stands that it might
> not be obvious to someone who has never seen a unix style path
separator...
> like myself (who does use unix btw) they are first going to try and use a
> comma, because most other lists in Ant use them. Its a natural assumption.
----

Lists should be defined using nested XML structures:

<classpath>
    <element location="a/path/according/to/file/spec"/>
    <element location="another/path/according/to/file/spec"/>
    <element location="on/more/path/according/to/file/spec"/>
</classpath>

... and add a way to set a path predefined in a property.
The predefined path should be parsed according to the local conventions and
some Ant standard. Using  /, \, ;, : as the standard separators is not bad,
as this will be natural for most ant users.

Note: A general path abstraction can also be used to modify the PATH
environment variable. This can be used to spawn external processes.

I will improve the existing classpath stuff a little bit and send a patch to
this list and ask for comments. Then I hope we can finally end the
discussion about files and pathes.

- tom