Controlling the output format of the build

This section describes how to control the output of a feature or product build.

Controlling the output format

The archivesFormat property allows specifying the output format (zip, tar, and folder) of the build on a configuration basis. The format of the property is <configuration> - <format>, where configuration is the same value as specified in the configs property and format is one of the following.

Note that changing the format of the output will not change the name of the created file. It needs to be changed in the allElements.xml file.

Generating JNLP manifests

To enable the generation of JNLP manifests at build time, set generateJnlp to true, set jnlp.codebase to be the value where the jnlp file will be served from (see codebase attribute in jnlp tag), and set jnlp.j2se. Note that this will not package your plug-ins and features for an update site, see the "preparing the output for an update site or jnlp site" below. Due to current restrictions, the creation of the jnlp manifest only works when producing folders as an output format.

Preparing the output for an update site or jnlp site

When put on an update site or a java web start site, plug-ins and features need to be packaged properly. To do this, simply set the outputUpdateJars property to true. Note that this will not generate the site.xml for the eclipse update site and it will not generate jnlp files (see generating jnlp files).

Grouping multiple configurations in one archive

In order to produce an output that contains the plug-ins and features of multiple configurations, set groupConfigurations to true. This will create an archive that contains all the plug-ins and features that match the configurations listed in the configs property. When using this, don't forget to add a target named <feature.id>.group.group.group in the allElements.xml file. Due to current restrictions, the usage of this option will cause the value specified in archivesFormat to be ignored and antZip will be used by default.

Signing jars

In order to sign jars during the build, set the property signJars to true and set values for the properties sign.alias, sign.keystore, and sign.storepass.