Ajc Ant Task

Description

This task compiles using the AspectJtm compiler ajc; you can use it in place of the Javac task. The interface is like the Javac task interface, except it also accepts parameters unique to ajc: nocomments, preprocess, workingdir, maxmemory, jvmarg, and argfiles.

An argument file is a file (usually <file>.lst) containing a list of source file paths (absolute or relative to the argfile). You can use it to specify all source files to be compiled, which ajc requires to avoid searching every possible source file in the source path when building aspects. If you specify an argfile to the ajc task, it will not include all files in any specified source directory (which is the default behavior for the Javac task when no includes are specified). Conversely, if you specify excludes, they will be removed from the list of files compiled even if they were specified in an argument file.

Parameters

Parameters supported by ajc

Attribute Description Required
srcdir the base directory of the java files. (See note) Yes, unless you use argfile or nested <src> elements.
destdir Specify where to place the generated class files. No
includes comma-separated list of patterns of files that must be included; no files are included when omitted. No
includesfile the name of a file that contains include patterns. No
excludes comma-separated list of patterns of files that must be excluded; no files (except default excludes) are excluded when omitted. No
excludesfile the name of a file that contains exclude patterns. No
defaultexcludes whether default excludes should be used (yes | no); default excludes are used when omitted. No
classpath the classpath to use. No
bootclasspath location of bootstrap class files. No
classpathref the classpath to use, given as a reference to a PATH defined elsewhere. No
bootclasspathref location of bootstrap class files, given as a reference to a PATH defined elsewhere. No
extdirs location of installed extensions No
debug whether debug information should be included in classes output; defaults to false. No
deprecation whether compiler should emit messages about usage of deprecated API; defaults to false. No
verbose whether to emit compiler status messages during the compiler; defaults to false. No
version print ajc version and exit No
failonerror whether the build continues notwithstanding compile errors; defaults to true.  No
X comma-delimited list of extended (-X...) options, entered without -X (e.g., X="lint,addSafePrefix" for -Xlint -XaddSafePrefix). No
source Value of -source option - ignored unless "1.4" No

Parameters allowed by ajc but ignored

Attribute Description Required
encoding encoding of source files. No
optimize whether source should be compiled with optimization No
target generate class files for specific VM version (e.g., 1.1 or 1.2). No
depend enables dependency-tracking No
includeAntRuntime whether to include the Ant run-time libraries No
includeJavaRuntime whether to include the run-time libraries from the executing VM No
threads Multi-threaded compilation No

Parameters unique to ajc

Attribute Description Required
lenient Interpret Java specification leniently, as do other compilers (defaults to off) No
strict Interpret Java specification strictly (defaults to off) No
emacssym Generate symbols for Emacs IDE support (defaults to off) No
porting Only warn for some pre-1.0 language features to ease process of porting code. (defaults to off) No
nocomments Used only in concert with usejavac or preprocess to not generate comments in output code.  No
preprocess if enabled, generate Java source files into <workingdir>.  No
workingdir Used only in concert with usejavac or preprocess to specify output directory; defaults to ajworkingdir.  No
argfiles a comma-delimited list of argfiles that contain a line-delimited list of source file paths (absolute or relative to the argfile)  No
fork if enabled, run the compile in another VM No
maxmemory max amount of memory to allocate to the forked VM executing the compiler No
jvmarg pass argument to the forked VM executing the compiler No
internalclasspath classpath to add to system classpath when running compiler (forces fork) No
usejavac if enabled, precompile sources and use javac to compile (tools.jar must be on the taskdef classpath); defaults to false. No

 

Parameters specified as nested elements

This task forms an implicit FileSet and supports all attributes of <fileset> (dir becomes srcdir) as well as the nested <include>, <exclude>, <patternset>, and <argfile> elements.

src, classpath, bootclasspath and extdirs

ajc's srcdir, classpath, bootclasspath, extdirs and jvmarg attributes are path-like structures and can also be set via nested <src>, <classpath>, <bootclasspath>, <extdirs> and <jvmarg> elements, respectively.

Examples

  <ajc srcdir="${src}"
       destdir="${build}"
       argfiles="demo.lst"
  />
compiles all .java files specified in the demo.lst and stores the .class files in the ${build} directory.  Unlike the Javac task, the includes attribute is empty by default, so only those files specified in demo.lst are included.

This next example 

  <ajc srcdir="${src}"
       destdir="${build}"
       includes="spacewar/*,coordination/*"
       excludes="spacewar/Debug.java"
  />
compiles .java files under the ${src} directory in the spacewar and coordination packages, and stores the .class files in the ${build} directory.  All source files under spacewar/ and coordination/ are used, except Debug.java. 
  <ajc srcdir="${src}"
       destdir="${build}"
       argfiles="demo.lst"
       excludes="spacewar/Debug.java"
  />