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Default to Eclipse JDT (ecj) compiler

Details

  • Type: Improvement Improvement
  • Status: Closed Closed
  • Priority: Minor Minor
  • Resolution: Won't Fix
  • Affects Version/s: None
  • Fix Version/s: 4.4.0
  • Component/s: None
  • Labels:
    None
  • Similar Issues:
    Show 5 results 

Description

Use the Eclipse JDT (ecj) compiler by default instead of jikes. Place ecj.jar in %ANT_HOME%/lib so
that the Eclipse JDT classes are visible to Ant.

For more information, see
http://help.eclipse.org/help33/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.jdt.doc.isv/guide/jdt_api_compile.htm

This has numerous benefits:

1. Eclipse JDT is comparable in performance to jikes
2. Eclipse JDT supports up to java 1.7. jikes development seems to have been replaced by Eclipse JDT development
3. this enables use of hot code replacement when using the eclipse debugger (ie change some code in a method, eclipse auto-reloads the class with out redeploy or restart)
4. license allows redistribution (ie distribute a customized ant that includes JDT)

Activity

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Brian Chan added a comment -

Mike, does this work in Windows? And this is all I have to do ? Put ecj.jar in ant\lib ? Do I need to change ourr build.properties from jikes to ecj or modern or anything?

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Brian Chan added a comment - Mike, does this work in Windows? And this is all I have to do ? Put ecj.jar in ant\lib ? Do I need to change ourr build.properties from jikes to ecj or modern or anything?
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Brian Chan added a comment -

I modified our ant tasks so that if ECJ doesn't exist, it'll fail gracefully with a nice message. It'll also auto copy the ecj.jar to the correct ant lib directory, so that the next time you run it, ECJ is there. Basically, it'll automatically install ECJ for the user.

Show
Brian Chan added a comment - I modified our ant tasks so that if ECJ doesn't exist, it'll fail gracefully with a nice message. It'll also auto copy the ecj.jar to the correct ant lib directory, so that the next time you run it, ECJ is there. Basically, it'll automatically install ECJ for the user.
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David Truong added a comment -

you also have to add a target and source to build.properties and also in the args of javac if you want to compile for 1.5 or higher

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David Truong added a comment - you also have to add a target and source to build.properties and also in the args of javac if you want to compile for 1.5 or higher
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Jeffrey Blattman added a comment -

i do not believe this is the right solution. you can't assume that $

{ant.home}

/lib is writable. for example, consider osx w/ netbeans installed in /Applications. in this case, ant.home is /Applications/NetBeans/NetBeans 6.0.app/Contents/Resources/NetBeans/java1/ant, which is not writable by the user.

that being said, i am not sure how to affect this change correctly, except asking the user to manually copy the file.

i am not sure why liferay has a dependency on ecj.

Show
Jeffrey Blattman added a comment - i do not believe this is the right solution. you can't assume that $ {ant.home} /lib is writable. for example, consider osx w/ netbeans installed in /Applications. in this case, ant.home is /Applications/NetBeans/NetBeans 6.0.app/Contents/Resources/NetBeans/java1/ant, which is not writable by the user. that being said, i am not sure how to affect this change correctly, except asking the user to manually copy the file. i am not sure why liferay has a dependency on ecj.
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Brian Chan added a comment -

Jeff,

That's a very good point.

We used to default to jikes, but since it's not actively developed anymore, we switched to ecj.

Basically, it makes it so that you can compile faster than just using the native jdk.

What we should do is default to modern (default jdk) and then give instructions on how to use ecj (ie, modify build.properties property "javac.compiler" and copy the ecj.jar to ant lib).

I'll make that change so we can more easily use netbeans per LEP-4784.

Show
Brian Chan added a comment - Jeff, That's a very good point. We used to default to jikes, but since it's not actively developed anymore, we switched to ecj. Basically, it makes it so that you can compile faster than just using the native jdk. What we should do is default to modern (default jdk) and then give instructions on how to use ecj (ie, modify build.properties property "javac.compiler" and copy the ecj.jar to ant lib). I'll make that change so we can more easily use netbeans per LEP-4784 .
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Brian Chan added a comment -

See LEP-4792

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Brian Chan added a comment - See LEP-4792

People

  • Assignee:
    SE Support
    Reporter:
    Michael Young
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Dates

  • Created:
    Updated:
    Resolved: