Hi guys,
i would like to ask if it is possible to run a make file in java?
I was searching the internet but only got the examples of generating java make file. My case is different, what if i have makefile, but i just want to run it from java?
really sorry for dumb question, but i am lost and dont even know if i can run it or not.
thank you very much!
You don't really "run" a makefile, rather, you run the make utility and it looks for a file called "makefile" or "Makefile" in your current directory and processes the commands in that file. So you need to execute make from within your java app. You can do this via Runtime.exec(). For more information see http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/lang/Runtime.html#exec%28java.lang.String%29 and http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-2000/jw-1229-traps.html?page=1
One potential issue you should look out for is that make may or may not exist on the machine that your program runs on, and even if it does exist, it may be located in a non-standard location. On my machine, it's /usr/bin/make, but it could be located elsewhere. Be careful to account for this.
i was running from the command line coz got confused with smarter ways of doing it =(
I have another question. If i don't find the make utility or probably I don't have it on my machine, what do I do?
Where do I find it to download or something?
Yes. You can use Runtime.exec to run the make application. However, as someone previously stated, you should account for conditions when the file may not be present or present in another location. I suggest you to have a look at java.io.File javadoc which provides this functionality. Also, don't forget to capture the error stream for logging/debugging purposes. Many a times, programmers only implement the input and output streams.