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<title>BuildTool Readme</title>
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<h1>BuildTool</h1>
<p>BuildTool is a Java based build tool. In theory it is kind of like make without 
  makes wrinkles.</p>
<h2>Why?</h2>
<p>Why another build tool when there is already make, gnumake, nmake, jam, and 
  others? Because all of those tools have limitations that its original author 
  couldn't live with when developming software across multiple platforms. Make 
  like tools are inherently shell based. They evaluate a set of dependencies and 
  then execute commands not unlike what you would issue on a shell. This means 
  that you can easily extend these tools by using or writing any program for the 
  OS that you are working on. However, this also means that you limit yourself 
  to the OS, or at least the OS type such as Unix, that you are working on.</p>
<p>Makefiles are inherently evil as well. Anybody who has worked on them for any 
  time has run into the dreaded tab problem. &quot;Is my command not executing 
  because I have a space in front of my tab!!!&quot; said the original author 
  of BuildTool way too many times. Tools like Jam took care of this to a great 
  degree, but still use yet another format to use and remember.</p>
<p>BuildTool is different. Instead a model where it is extended with shell based 
  commands, it is extended using Java classes. Instead of writing shell commands, 
  the configuration files are XML based calling out a target tree where various 
  tasks get executed. Each task is run by an object which implments a particular 
  Task interface. </p>
<p>Granted, this removes some of the expressive power that is inherent by being 
  able to construct a shell command such as `find . -name foo -exec rm {}` but 
  it gives you the ability to be cross platform. To work anywhere and everywhere.And 
  hey, if you really need to execute a shell command, BuildTool has an exec rule 
  that allows different commands to be executed based on the OS that it is executing 
  on. </p>
<h2>How?</h2>
<p>To get started using BuildTool check out the following topics:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Installing BuildTool</li>
  <li>Writing a simple BuildFile</li>
  <li>Built in Tasks</li>
  <li>Writing a new Task</li>
  <li>API Documentation</li>
</ul>
<h2>License</h2>
<h2>Feedback</h2>
<p>To provide feedback on this software, please send mail to <a href="mailto:duncan@x180.com">duncan@x180.com</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems.</p>
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