Java Build Tool
Comparison
HJUG - April 29th, 2009
John Tyler
Java Build Tool Comparison
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Desired Features
The Contenders
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Ant + Ivy
Maven
Gradle
Buildr
Others
Results Matrix
Subjective Evaluation
Which Would You Choose?
Desired Features
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Dependency management
Versioning
Compile Java code, build jars
Execute tests and report results, fail build on failed tests
Run quality-check tools (PMD, Findbugs, Checkstyles)
File generation (XmlBeans, Xsl, Velocity, AspectJ)
Property expansion / token substitution
Build vs. deploy vs. release
Full control when needed
Cross-platform
IDE Support
Documentation / Support
Ant + Ivy

Ant is ubiquitous Java-based build tool
 Uses

XML “script” files
Ivy is a dependency manager
 Artifact
repository
 Dependency resolution, including transitive
(Project A -> Hibernate -> CommonsCollections)
 Sync with external repositories
Ant + Ivy

Module dependencies are declared in ivy.xml
<ivy-module version="2.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<info organisation=“org.hjug" module=“myModule"/>
<dependencies>
<dependency org="org.apache" name="ant" rev="1.7.0"/>
<dependency org="org.apache" name="axis" rev="1.2rc3"/>
<dependency org="org.junit" name="junit" rev="4.4"/>
</dependencies>
</ivy-module>
Ant + Ivy

Add this to your Ant buildfile (build.xml)
<project xmlns:ivy="antlib:org.apache.ivy.ant" name="pdk" default="default" basedir=".">
…
<!-- Ivy Taskdefs -->
<path id="ivy.lib.path">
<fileset dir="C:/java-tools/apache-ivy-2.0.0" includes="*.jar"/>
</path>
<taskdef resource="org/apache/ivy/ant/antlib.xml" uri="antlib:org.apache.ivy.ant"
classpathref="ivy.lib.path"/>
<!-- Reference Ivy settings -->
<ivy:settings file="${basedir}/../ivysettings.xml"/>
<target name="ivy.resolve" description="--> retrieve dependencies with ivy">
<ivy:retrieve pattern=“${lib.dir}/[conf]/[artifact].[ext]”/>
</target>
<target name="ivy.publish" description="--> publish artifacts to local repository">
<ivy:publish resolver=“local” pubrevision=“${version}”>
<artifacts pattern=“dist/[artifact].[ext]”/>
</ivy:publish>
</target>
Ant + Ivy
Build steps defined and executed with Ant
 Dependencies managed with Ivy
 Ant targets to install, retrieve artifacts from
Ivy repository

Ant + Ivy
Image copied from http://ant.apache.org/ivy/history/2.0.0/principle.html
Maven

Project is defined by POM (Project Object
Model)
 Projects
can contain sub-projects (modules)
 Based on recommended project structure (e.g.
src/main/java, src/main/resources, src/test/java, …)

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Artifact-focused (i.e. What files does this build
produce?)
Heavy emphasis on default configuration
Maven

Build Lifecycle is defined as Phases, which
execute sequentially
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Validate
Compile
Test
Package
Integration-test
Verify
Install
Deploy
Maven

Each Phase can be made up of zero or more
Goals (tasks)
 Project-specific
configuration involves binding
specific goals to specific phases (beyond the default
settings)

Extensible plugin system (called Mojos)
 Java-based
or Ant-based
 Comprehensive set of third-party plugins available
Gradle
Built on top of Ant + Ivy
 Build DSL written in Groovy
 Uses Groovy AntBuilder

 ant.compile,

ant.jar
Plugins define common tasks to build
different types of projects
 java,
groovy, war, …
Gradle

Assumes Maven conventions for file
locations (drop-in replacement for Maven)
 Can

be altered with the convention object
Can use existing Maven or Ivy
repositories
Buildr

Built on Ruby
 Rake
is similar to Ant (Ruby Make)
 RubyGems is similar to rpm (package
manager, handles dependencies)
 Build script written in Ruby (internal DSL)
Buildr

Pre-defined tasks
 clean
 compile
 build
 upload
 install
 javadoc
 package
 test
 uninstall
Buildr

Assumes Maven conventions for file
locations (drop-in replacement for Maven)
 Can

be altered
Can use existing Maven repositories
Others
Gant
 Rake
 EasyAnt
 Custom ?

Out of the box
Results Matrix
Desired Feature
Ant + Ivy
Not supported
Maven
Gradle
Buildr
Doesn’t include
html reports
Doesn’t include
html reports
Dependency management
Versioning
manually
Compile Java code, build
jars
Execute tests, report
results, fail build on failed
tests
Run quality check tools
(PMD, FindBugs, JavaDoc)
3rd party task
libraries
3rd party
plugins
Manually
Manually
File generation (XmlBeans,
XSL, Velocity, AspectJ)
3rd party task
libraries
3rd party
plugins
Manually
Manually
Results Matrix cont’d
Desired Feature
Ant + Ivy
Maven
Out of the box
Not supported
Gradle
Buildr
Property expansion / token
substitution
Build vs. deploy vs. release
Manually
defined
Full control when needed
Custom XML
“scripts”
Write custom
plugin or
embedded Ant
script
Groovy code
directly in build
file
Ruby code
directly in build
file
Runs on JVM
Runs on Ruby,
may need to
compile from
source
Cross-platform
Runs on JVM
Runs on JVM
IDE Support
Eclipse only
Documentation / Support
Excellent
Growing but
still
inconsistent
Decent project
documentation,
few articles
Good project
documentation,
few articles
Subjective Evaluation
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Ant, Ivy, Maven have been around the longest
Restrictive vs. Open philosophy
Smart defaults
Dependency Management is a Good Thing™
Ant has by far the best documentation and
examples available online
Gradle is the least mature (but very promising)
Buildr is very cool but has potential platform
issues (Ruby vs. JRuby, 64-bit)
Which Would You Choose?