check out from svn using ant

[marten koomen]

Hi

I have just starting to explore ant to automate my build.

In my mind, the first thing to do for a build is to checkout the latest source version from the repository (svn in my case). However I have found the documentation scant on this.

I have been able to get the ant executable below to work, however the web advice from which this is derived said that executables are best avoided.

So my questions are
1) is it normal to commence a build by checking the source out of the repository?
2) if so, is there a better way then using an ant executable?

Thanks

Marten

	<exec executable="C:\Program Files\CollabNet\Subversion Client\svn.exe">
	    <arg value="co" />
	    <arg value="file:///D:/svn_repository/MyProject" />
	    <arg value="C:\Users\USER\Desktop\antrproject\src" />
	</exec>

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Yes, it is normal to start a build by checking out the code from the repository.

You are using the SVN executable in your example (not the Ant executable) via Ant's exec task. That's one way of doing it. The other way is to use the SVN Ant task. I used the command line SVN in my Ant builds - that approach is certainly viable.

[Peter Johnson]

The other possibility is using a continuous integration tool, such as Jenkins, to check out the sources from Subversion and it starts Ant to do the build. Besides, isn't the Ant script in the project's base directory and thus to get the script you have to first check out the project?

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Peter Johnson wrote:Besides, isn't the Ant script in the project's base directory and thus to get the script you have to first check out the project?

For me, it wasn't. We had a generic script that got passed the the projects that it needed to pull. Even if the project is checked out, it might not be the latest copy.

[marten koomen]

Thanks Jeanne, Thanks Peter

So, I have
1) checked my version of svn as 1.8.0
2) downloaded SvnAnt 1.3.x which is bound against subversion 1.6.x, but there is no 1.8.x available
3) unzipped svnant-1.3.1.zip into my ant/lib folder
4) put the following in my build file

	<svn>
		<checkout url="file:///D:/svn_repository/MyProject" destPath="C:\Users\USER\Desktop\antrproject\src" />
	</svn>

5) and get the following message:
BUILD FAILED
C:\Users\USER\Desktop\antrproject\build.xml:12: Problem: failed to create task or type svn
Cause: The name is undefined.
Action: Check the spelling.
Action: Check that any custom tasks/types have been declared.
Action: Check that any <presetdef>/<macrodef> declarations have taken place.

Any clues? I find this all a little bit secret java business.

Thanks

Marten

PS also tried adding to the build.xml the following line, but not sure what it means and it doesn't work

  <typedef resource="org/tigris/subversion/svnant/svnantlib.xml" classpathref="svnant.classpath" /> 

I have my svn ant in "C:\ant\apache-ant-1.9.3-bin\apache-ant-1.9.3\lib\svnant.jar" ... to which I changed my classpathref but it still doesn't work

[marten koomen]

So I finally got it to work, although it doesn't seem very best practice

<typedef resource="org/tigris/subversion/svnant/svnantlib.xml" classpath="C:\ant\apache-ant-1.9.3-bin\apache-ant-1.9.3\lib\svnant.jar;C:\ant\apache-ant-1.9.3-bin\apache-ant-1.9.3\lib\svnClientAdapter.jar;C:\ant\apache-ant-1.9.3-bin\apache-ant-1.9.3\lib\svnkit.jar;C:\ant\apache-ant-1.9.3-bin\apache-ant-1.9.3\lib\svnjavahl.jar" />

<target name="checkout" depends="init" description="checkout code">
	<svn svnkit="false" javahl="false">
		<checkout url="file:///D:/svn_repository/MyProject" destPath="C:\Users\USER\Desktop\antrproject\src" />
	</svn>
</target>

The respponse is

C:\Users\USER\Desktop\antrproject>ant
Buildfile: C:\Users\USER\Desktop\antrproject\build.xml

init:

checkout:
      [svn] Deprecated attribute 'svnkit'. This attribute will disappear with SV
NANT 1.3.2. Use svnSetting instead.
      [svn] Deprecated attribute 'javahl'. This attribute will disappear with SV
NANT 1.3.2. Use svnSetting instead.

BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 14 seconds

[marten koomen]

For information - this does it

  <path id="svnant.classpath">
      <pathelement location="C:\ant\apache-ant-1.9.3-bin\apache-ant-1.9.3\lib\svnant.jar"/>
      <pathelement location="C:\ant\apache-ant-1.9.3-bin\apache-ant-1.9.3\lib\svnClientAdapter.jar"/>
      <pathelement location="C:\ant\apache-ant-1.9.3-bin\apache-ant-1.9.3\lib\svnkit.jar"/>
      <pathelement location="C:\ant\apache-ant-1.9.3-bin\apache-ant-1.9.3\lib\ganymed.jar"/>
      <pathelement location="C:\ant\apache-ant-1.9.3-bin\apache-ant-1.9.3\lib\svnjavahl.jar"/>
  </path>

<typedef resource="org/tigris/subversion/svnant/svnantlib.xml" classpathref="svnant.classpath" /> 

    <svnSetting
        svnkit="false"
        javahl="false"
        id="svn.settings"/>
        
        
<target name="checkout" depends="init" description="checkout code">     
	<svn refid="svn.settings" >
		<checkout url="file:///D:/svn_repository/MyProject" destPath="C:\Users\USER\Desktop\antrproject\src" />
	</svn>
</target>

Thanks again