Incrementally compiling java source files

Question

Hi , I want to compile my only changed changed java source files. I know that eclipse is doing this inside JDT plugin . But my question is that , is it possible to do without an eclipse installtion ?

I meant is it possible to get a small subset of jars from eclipse plugins and use the Compiler from it to compile only changed java files through an ant script ?

Thanks Jijoy

Answer 1

Both Ant and Maven know how to compile only those files that have changed, or that depend on files that have changed. In the case of Maven, it happens by default. With Ant you do this using the Depend task.

You need to be aware of the limitations of these mechanisms. In particular, the Ant Depend task does not detect certain kinds of dependencies that are not made explicit in the Java class file format.