Generate manifest class-path from <classpath> in Ant

Question

In the build file below, the jar target refers to the jar.class.path property for the manifest class-path. The compile target refers to project.class.path

There is redundancy here, because jar.class.path and project.class.path are very similar. They must be both updated when libraries are added, which can be a pain if the list of libraries gets very long. Is there a better way? Any solution must be cross-platform and always use relative paths.

Edit:
It should generate the JAR classpath from a fileset and not the other way around, so I can use wildcards to e.g. include all JAR files in a directory.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<project name="Higgins" default="jar" basedir=".">

    <property name="jar.class.path" value="lib/forms-1.2.0.jar lib/BrowserLauncher.jar"/>

    <path id="project.class.path">
      <pathelement location="build"/>
      <fileset dir="lib">
        <include name="forms-1.2.0.jar"/>
        <include name="BrowserLauncher.jar"/>
      </fileset>
    </path>

    <target name="prepare">
        <mkdir dir="build"/>
    </target>

    <target name="compile" depends="prepare" description="Compile core sources">
        <javac srcdir="src"
               includes="**"
               destdir="build"
               debug="true"
               source="1.5">
          <classpath refid="project.class.path"/>
        </javac>
    </target>

    <target name="jar" depends="compile" description="Generates executable jar file">
        <jar jarfile="higgins.jar">
            <manifest>
                <attribute name="Main-Class" value="nl.helixsoft.higgins.Main"/>
                <attribute name="Class-Path" value="${jar.class.path}"/>
            </manifest>
            <fileset dir="build" includes="**/*.class"/>            
            <fileset dir="src" includes="**/*.properties"/>         
        </jar>
    </target>

</project>

Answer 1

Assuming Ant 1.7 or above, you can use the manifestclasspath task.

<path id="dep.runtime">
    <fileset dir="./lib">
        <include name="**/*.jar" />
    </fileset>
</path>
<property name="dep_cp" value="${toString:dep.runtime}" />

<target name="default">
    <manifestclasspath property="manifest_cp" jarfile="myjar.jar">
        <classpath refid="dep.runtime" />
    </manifestclasspath>
    <echo message="Build Classpath: ${dep_cp}" />
    <echo message="Manifest Classpath: ${manifest_cp}" />
</target>

Answer 2

<path id="build.classpath">
  <fileset dir="${basedir}">
     <include name="lib/*.jar"/>
  </fileset>
</path>

<pathconvert property="manifest.classpath" pathsep=" ">
  <path refid="build.classpath"/>
  <mapper>
    <chainedmapper>
       <flattenmapper/>
       <globmapper from="*.jar" to="lib/*.jar"/>
    </chainedmapper>
  </mapper>
</pathconvert>

<target depends="compile" name="buildjar">
  <jar jarfile="${basedir}/${test.jar}">
     <fileset dir="${build}" />
     <manifest>
       <attribute name="Main-Class" value="com.mycompany.TestMain"/>
       <attribute name="Class-Path" value="${manifest.classpath}"/>
     </manifest>
 </jar>
</target>

For further information check out this article.

Answer 3

If you just want a common subpath shared between two (or more) paths, that is easy to do:

<path id="lib.path>
    <fileset dir="lib">
        <include name="forms-1.2.0.jar"/>
        <include name="BrowserLauncher.jar"/>
    </fileset>
</path>

<path id="project.class.path">
    <pathelement location="build"/>
    <path refid="lib.path"/>
</path>

<property name="jar.class.path" refid="lib.path"/>

EDIT Sorry, I misunderstood the question. Try this:

<property name="jar.class.path" value="lib/forms-1.2.0.jar lib/BrowserLauncher.jar"/>

<path id="project.class.path">
    <pathelement location="build"/>
    <fileset dir="." includes="${jar.class.path}"/>
</path>

Answer 4

You can use <pathconvert> to convert a path (which can contain a fileset) into a plain string. You'll likely need to <echo> that string to a file, use either <replace> or <replaceregexp> to chop the leading path bits, then finally use <loadfile> to load the manipulated string into the final property.

Implementation left as an exercise to the reader.