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Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 08:19:39 -0600
From: Moshe Yudkowsky <msha4_05@bl.com>
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To: forrest-dev@xml.apache.org
Subject: One useful "undocumented" property
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I've experimented with a few undocumented properties to make my build and life 
a little easier.

My forrest-properties file has these lines:

> project.content-dir=/home/moshe/web/disaggregate-test/src/documentation
> project.skins-dir=${project.content-dir}/skins
> project.site-dir=/home/moshe/web/disaggregate-test/builds/${project.skin}
> project.temp-dir=/home/moshe/web/disaggregate-test/tmp

What this means is that I can compare/contrast different builds. If build with 
skin "foo", and then build skin "bar", then I will have built:

builds/foo
builds/bar

as compared to the standard system, which will overwrite one with the other.

Another nice feature is making use of the "undocumented" (not in 
forrest-properties distribution) variable temp-dir, which allows me to decide 
where I want tmp files created. This will be useful when I finally remember to 
actually put them in /tmp, but at least in the meantime they are not cluttering 
up the builds directory.

One problem that I've run into is that at least once, when doing a build, I 
found that I had old extraneous files that didn't get rebuilt until I 
completely removed all contents of the tmp directory. I found that odd, to say 
the least, and if I can get the behavior replicated I will document it.


-- 
  Moshe Yudkowsky
  Disaggregate
  2952 W Fargo
  Chicago, IL 60645 USA

  <http://www.Disaggregate.com>