How to exclude a directory from ant fileset, based on directories contents

Question

How can I create an ant fileset which excludes certain directories based on the contents of the directory?

I use ant to create a distribution jar which has each localization in separate directories, some of which are incomplete and should not be released.

I would like to add something to the directory (for example a file named incomplete.flag) so that ant excludes the directory. Then I can delete the file when translation is complete, and include it in the build without modifying build.xml.

Given this directory structure:

proj
+ locale
  + de-DE
  + en-US
  + fr-FR

This fileset excludes all incompelte.flag files, but how can I exclude the entire directories that contain them?

  <fileset dir="${basedir}">
    <include name="locale/"/>
    <exclude name="locale/*/incomplete.flag">
  </fileset>

I can write an ant task if need be, but I'm hoping the fileset can handle this use case.

Answer 1

Here's an alternative, instead of adding an incomplete.flag file to every dir you want to exclude, generate a file that contains a listing of all the directories you want to exclude and then use the excludesfile attribute. Something like this:

<fileset dir="${basedir}" excludesfile="FileWithExcludedDirs.properties">
  <include name="locale/"/>
  <exclude name="locale/*/incomplete.flag">
</fileset>

Hope it helps.

Answer 2

Hi guys,

This is possible by using "**" pattern as following.



<exclude name="maindir/**/incomplete.flag"/>

the above 'exclude' will exclude all directories completely which contains incomplete.flag file.