The Uncommons Antlib provides macro definitions, custom tasks and other tools to support the development of modular Java software using Apache Ant. It builds on the concepts, processes and best practices established in the development of several Ant-based projects, particularly the Uncommons.org open source projects.

The guiding principle behind the design of the Uncommons Antlib is convention over configuration. Ant build scripts are greatly simplified by relying on consistent directory structures and naming conventions.

This wiki contains some basic information to get you started. You may want to take a look at some of the example projects to see how the Antlib is used in the real world.

See also: 15 Tips for Better Ant Builds

Macros

The Uncommons Antlib provides a set of macros that greatly simplify Ant scripts for modular projects. A module is simply a self-contained component of a project. Each module has its own sub-directory in a project tree according to the Uncommons Antlib conventions.

Custom Tasks

DocBook

A task for publishing DocBook documents as PDF, HTML or RTF.

GZip

The standard Ant GZip task only works with an individually identified file. This task works with FileSets and separately compresses each matching file.

Once

A task container that ensures that a particular task or set of tasks is only performed once per build, regardless of how many times it is invoked. This is useful for performing configuration that should not be repeated.