Plugins

An EasyAnt plugin defines a single small reusable portion of the build system performed by EasyAnt, for example: run unit tests, generate a build report, or package a jar. Plugins can then be included into buildtypes or other plugins to define more complicated tasks (like "build a complete web application"). You can also include a plugin directly into your project's Ivy file to customize the way your project is built.

A typical plugin consists of an Ivy descriptor and a short Ant script, and is stored in the EasyAnt Ivy repository. The Ivy descriptor indicates which libraries are required by your plugin; for example, the junit jar is needed by the test-junit plugin. The Ant script can expose or contribute logic to one or more extension points. Most plugins can be fine-tuned with Ant property settings.

If you want to add support for a new build tool to EasyAnt, you should probably start by writing a plugin for it. See the Plugins Tutorial to get started. Before writing your own plugin, be sure to check here to see if a plugin doesn't already exist.