---
name: "build.xml"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "ant"
version: "1.10.15-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/build.xml"
---

# build.xml(5)

configuration file used by Apache Ant to build projects

## NAME

build.xml - configuration file used by Apache Ant to build projects

## DESCRIPTION

The file **build.xml** is the default configuration file used by **ant** to determine target to build for a specific project. It can be considered the ant equivalent of Makefile.

The format of **ant** is XML and for each project a separate file is constructed. The buildfile consists of one or more tasks. An example is given below.

\<project default="compile"\>

  \<target name="compile"\>\
     \<javac srcdir="src"/\>\
   \</target\>

\</project\>

This example has one target and it is defaulted. The target itself consists of one task **javac** which compiles the files in the *src* directory.

## TARGETS

Targets can depend on other targets. These dependencies are given by  the *depends* attribute of the \<*target*\> element.

## TASKS

A task is a piece of code that is executed.  **Ant** recognizes built-in task, optional tasks, but one can also write new  tasks.

**Built-in tasks**

The built-in tasks are: *Ant*, *AntCall*, *AntStructure*, *AntVersion*, *Apply*, *Apt*, *Available*, *Basename*, *BuildNumber*, *BUnzip2*, *BZip2*, *Checksum*, *Chmod*, *Concat*, *Condition*, *Copy*, *Componentdef*, *Cvs*, *CvsChangeLog*, *CvsVersion*, *CVSPass*, *CvsTagDiff*, *Defaultexcludes*, *Delete*, *Deltree*, *Dependset*,  *Diagnostics*, *Dirname*, *Ear*, *Echo*, *EchoXML*, *Exec*, *Fail*, *Filter*, *FixCRLF*, *GenKey*, *Get*, *HostInfo*, *GUnzip*, *GZip*, *Import*, *Include*, *Input*, *Jar*, *Java*, *Javac*, *Javadoc*, *Length*, *LoadFile*, *LoadProperties*, *LoadResource*, *Local*, *MakeURL*, *Mail*, *MacroDef*, *Manifest*, *ManifestClassPath*, *Mkdir*, *Move*, *Nice*, *Parallel*, *Patch*, *PathConvert*, *PreSetDef*, *Property*, *PropertyHelper*, *Record*, *Replace*, *ResourceCount*, *Retry*, *Rmic*, *Sequential*, *SignJar*, *Sleep*, *Sql*, *SubAnt*, *Sync*, *Tar*, *Taskdef*, *Tempfile*, *Touch*, *Truncate*, *TStamp*, *Typedef*, *Unjar*, *Untar*, *Unwar*, *Unzip*, *Uptodate*, *Waitfor*, *WhichResource*, *War*, *XmlProperty*, *XSLT*, *Zip*

- **Java**

  Executes a Java class within the running (Ant) VM or forks another VM if  specified. Below are some of the attributes to the \<*java*\> element:

  **classname** (required) the Java class to execute

  **fork** if enabled triggers the class execution in another VM (disabled by default)

  **jvm** the command used to invoke the Java Virtual Machine, default is *java*. The command is resolved by java.lang.Runtime.exec(). Ignored if fork is disabled.

  Other arguments are *classpath*, *classpathref*, *maxmemory*, *failonerror*, *dir* and *output*.

- **Javac**

  Compiles a source tree within the running (Ant) VM.

  **srcdir** (required) location of the java files

  **destdir** location to store the class files

  **debug** indicates whether source should be compiled with debug information; defaults to off

  **target** generate class files for specific VM version (e.g., 1.4, 1.5, etc).

  **includes** comma-separated list of patterns of files that must be included; all files are included when omitted

  **excludes** comma-separated list of patterns of files that must be excluded; no files (except default excludes) are excluded when omitted.

  **defaultexcludes** indicates whether default excludes should be used (yes \| no); default excludes are used when omitted.

  Other arguments are *includesfile*, *excludesfile*,  *classpath*, *bootclasspath*, *classpathref*, *bootclasspathref*, *extdirs*, *encoding*, *deprecation*, *verbose*, *includeAntRuntime*, *includeJavaRuntime* and *failonerror*.

## Properties

A project can have a set of properties, which consist of a name value combination. Within tasks they can be used by placing them between "${" and "}", as in "${builddir}/classes".

**Built-in Properties**

Ant provides access to all system properties as if they had been defined  using a \<*property*\> task. For example, ${os.name} expands to the name of  the operating system.

- **basedir**

  the absolute path of the project's basedir (as set with the basedir attribute of \<project\>).

- **ant.file**

  the absolute path of the buildfile.

- **ant.version**

  the version of Ant.

- **ant.project.name**

  the name of the project that is currently executing; it is set in the name attribute of \<project\>.

- **ant.java.version**

  the JVM version Ant detected.

## Classpath

The classpath can be set by using the \<*classpath*\> element:

\<classpath\>\
   \<pathelement path="${classpath}"/\>\
   \<pathelement location="lib/helper.jar"/\>\
   \<fileset dir="lib"\>\
     \<include name="\*\*/\*.jar"/\>\
   \</fileset\>  \</classpath\>

## SEE ALSO

[**ant**(1)](/ant/1.md)

## AUTHOR

This manpage is made by Egon Willighagen \<egonw@sci.kun.nl\> and based on the Ant Manual \<*http://ant.apache.org/manual/*\>.