[ jEdit-users ] Re: Using Ant 1.6.2 with jEdit

[Trevor H. <tr...@vo...>]

On Dec 1, 2004, at 9:37 AM, Joe Polanik wrote:

> Thanks, Trevor, for figuring this out.
>
> The situation is a little more complicated, though, if you want to use 
> an optional task. Optional tasks are now found in one of almost 20 
> .jar files (none of which is named 'optional.jar' ). So, after 
> removing 'optional.jar' from AntFarm.props, you have to add the .jar 
> file(s) that contain the task(s) you wish to use and those that 
> satisfy dependencies.

Sorry for the long delay in replying... Finals week hit and then the 
holiday season.

Anyway, yes, the problem with Ant integration and Ant bundling with 
plugins is by no means solved. I was going to suggest additional fixes, 
but I think the whole thing needs to be re-worked. Perhaps the solution 
is a different way of thinking. For instance, instead of Ant being 
treated as merely another library dependency, it should be integrated 
somehow into jEdit's core. Treated as a first-class citizen, so to 
speak.

In any case, I've given up on the problem for now. Project handling 
with Ant in jEdit is just too buggy at this point for my tastes. 
Specifically, it seems that every plugin necessary for this task has 
some small but annoying bug. For instance, the "Cannot find declaration 
of element 'project'" warning in the Error List plugin that pops up 
every time I save a build.xml file.

On the other hand, Xcode claims to support Ant very well. I'm going to 
try it out for my next project and see how it goes. I suspect it will 
be a compelling replacement for jEdit, at least in terms of project 
handling.

Trevor