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Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 16:47:03 -0400
From: "Kyle Adams" <kadams@gfs.com>
To: <user@ant.apache.org>
Subject: Directory structure best practices
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This subject has been covered in previous threads, most notably:

http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=3Dant-user&m=3D104492657316475&w=3D2

I would like to discuss the various approaches highlighted in this=20
e-mail.  For convenience, I'll be copying examples from the initial =
e-mail=20
in the  thread above, though I would recommend reading through it. =20
As I see it, the four approaches (letters a-d) are essentially variations =
on=20
two different build philosophies.

The first philosophy (largly exemplified in a and b) states that within=20
a sufficiently large project, each subproject has it's own build=20
directories (source, test, build, etc.).  This is also the approach=20
Maven takes, attempting to limit projects to one artifact (ie, JAR, =
WAR,=20
EAR, etc.) per project (see=20
http://wiki.codehaus.org/maven/WhyYouCantCreateMultipleArtifactsInOneProjec=
t)

Example:
-Projects/
  -HumanResourcesProject/
     build.xml
    +bin/
    +build/
    +src/
     (etc)
  -Payroll/
     build.xml
    +bin/
    +build/
    +src/
     (etc)
  -PensionsAdmin/
     build.xml
    +bin/
    +build/
    +src/
     (etc)
   (etc)

The second build philosophy is most apparent in letter d.  This approach=20=

specifies that the parent has the combined set of build directories and=20
subprojects are only separated out in the java packaging structure.

Example:

-Projects/
  -HumanResourcesProject/
     build.xml
    +bin/
    +build/
    -src/
      -java/
        -com/
          -domain/
            -hrproject/
              +payroll/
              +pensionsadmin/
              +hrutilities/
               (etc)
      +webapp/
      +conf/
     (etc)

So my question - in the Ant user community's experience, which approach=20
works better for very large, complex projects?  Maven favors the "each=20
subproject is pretty much independent", but it seems like that's a=20
violation of Martin Fowler's "Single Source Point"=20
(http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/continuousIntegration.html#N4000B9)=
=20
principle.  On the other hand, if you want to be able to do independent=20
release management (ie, version tagging, branching, etc.) of the various=20=

subprojects, it would almost seem to be a necessity to keep them=20
separate.

Perhaps some of this discussion could also supplement/take place on=20
ElementsOfAntStyle=20
(http://nagoya.apache.org/wiki/apachewiki.cgi?TheElementsOfAntStyle)?

Thanks,
Kyle

_____

Kyle Adams | Java Developer  |  Gordon Food Service  |  616-717-6162


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