Ant has been in use for quite some time and has been used in ways never conceived when it
was originally written. While Ant 1.x has continued to sucessfully evolve and grow, there
are a number of limitations and inconsistencies that are now apparent and which need to
be addressed.
As we continue to evolve and enhance Ant 1.x, it is now time to define what Ant 2.0 will
encompass. Ant 2.0 will be a major rearchitecting of Ant. It has a number of goals including:
- Define the "contract" with build file writers to which Ant will be bound.
- Define the "contract" between the Ant core and Task writers.
- Make Ant more easily extendable by allowing additional tasks to be "dropped" in.
- Allow Ant to function as a component to simplify integration with GUIs and IDEs.
- Make Ant more regular and logical.
It is expected that Ant 2.0 will break Ant 1.x based build files. The intention is to
make this the last time that will happen.
To advance the definition of Ant, user requirements are now being accepted on the
Ant-Dev mailing list. Any requirement will be accepted for consideration. The
requirements are being collected into a document which is available
on-line. New features will be excepted
until March 21st, 2001. At that time, each requirement will be discussed
for inclusion in an Ant 2.0 requirement document.
For your reference some of the goals which have shaped the development of Ant 1.x are
available here. These continue to be
relevant to Ant 2.0.
If you want to shape the future of Ant, join the
Ant-Dev mailing list and contribute
your ideas.
