execute build.xml with maven

Question

Is it possible to execute build.xml script with maven? This script checksout all my projects and subprojects and I've just got used to using maven, didn't really use much of an ant before and I know ant can be used with maven so my question is how ?

Answer 1

You can execute ant scripts via the Maven-Ant Plugin, but why do you need Ant to checkout your project? Haven't you organized your sub-projects to be in the same tree?

Answer 2

I'm really not a big fan of this approach (either use Ant, or Maven, but not a bastard mix) but you can use an external build.xml with the Maven AntRun Plugin:

<project>
  ...
  <build>
    <plugins>
      ...
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
          <tasks>
            <taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antcontrib.properties"
              classpathref="maven.plugin.classpath" />
            <ant antfile="${basedir}/build.xml">
              <target name="test"/>
            </ant>
          </tasks>
        </configuration>
        <dependencies>
          <dependency>
            <groupId>ant-contrib</groupId>
            <artifactId>ant-contrib</artifactId>
            <version>1.0b3</version>
          </dependency>
        </dependencies>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
</project>

And then run mvn antrun:run (or put the configuration inside an execution if you want to bind the AntRun plugin to a lifecycle phase, refer to the Usage page).

Update: If you are using things from ant-contrib, you need to declare it as dependency of the plugin. I've updated the plugin configuration to reflect this. Also note the taskdef element that I've added (I'm not sure you need the classpathref attribute though).