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Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:40:17 +0100
From: "Xavier Hanin" <xavier.hanin@gmail.com>
To: "Ant Developers List" <dev@ant.apache.org>
Subject: Re: [DISCUSS] EasyAnt: Ant based pre packaged build system for java
 projects
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On Jan 11, 2008 9:55 AM, Gilles Scokart <gscokart@gmail.com> wrote:

> 2008/1/10, Dominique Devienne <ddevienne@gmail.com>:
> >
> >
> > it was successful enough to still be in use today more than 2 years
> > after I'm gone, mostly untouched.
> >
> >
> I think this is very usual.  Once a build system is ok, no-one want to
> take
> the risk to change it, and often no-one can change it anymore.
>
> This is why black magic should be avoided.  And this is why good
> documentation techniques are required.
>
> If you have ever maintained a generic build script written by someone else
> you probably understand what I mean.
>
> I think this is the major challenge in the build managment today.  And
> that
> will be the challenge for such a project.

Agreed. IMO this is a challenge for any system. A good answer to this tough
problem is usually documentation and modularity. Modularity let divide the
tough problem is smaller parts, easier to understand and to maintain. I see
many Ant based build systems which are unmaintainable just because they
aren't modular and have a lot of duplicate code. So I think we should try to
make the build system modular, and the Ant import system already help, even
though some limitations make some things difficult as Dominique pointed out.

Another advantage of such a system over purely home made systems is that you
share knowledge of the system architecture over a community. So even if we
don't manage to make a system easy to understand, it will probably be easier
to maintain for users just because they can ask question about how the
system is built to the community who built it or is maintaining it.

Xavier

>
>
> --
> Gilles Scokart
>


-- 
Xavier Hanin - Independent Java Consultant
http://xhab.blogspot.com/
http://ant.apache.org/ivy/
http://www.xoocode.org/

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