Compiling application (with several sub-packages) from another java app

Question

Hi,
I'm writing my own build tool and need to be able to compile an external application (pulled from cvs, subversion, ...) from within this build tool.
Probably I need to use com.sun.tools.javac.Main.compile ?
But how do I pass classpath, output dir, etc to this class and how can I make it compile all files in all (sub)packages of the given folder ?
thanks for any help.

Answer 1

Never mind my previous post, I found a solution to the "the input line is too long" problem:
Putting all the files in a temporary file and then providing that file as the source to compile, like this:
javac -g:none -cp <classpath> -d classes @sourcefiles.txtwhere sourcefiles.txt is the name of the temporary file that contains the names of the source files (note the "@"-prefix)
For some reason, this is not mentioned/documented in the java docs (at least not in my docs)
Ok, so everything is compiling now, but I have one problem remaining:
For each "module" that I compile (the application I use for my tests consists of several "modules", i.e. subpackages), I get an error stating that "The system cannot find the path specified"
This seems obvious, because it is trying to write a file <package-name>\classes\<package-name>\<classname>.class
But why is it trying to write that file ?
-> Is this a known bug or something ?
Let me explain a little more...
For each compilation I do using the com.sun.tools.javac.Main.compile() method, it is giving this error.
Everything is compiling correctly, but it seems it is trying to write an extra class file to a wrong path.
Until now, it was always the first file in the row that gave the problem.
Example:
** module 1:
sources/com/example/module1/class1.java
sources/com/example/module1/class2.java
sources/com/example/module1/class3.java
sources/com/example/module1/sub1/subclass1.java
sources/com/example/module1/sub1/subclass2.java
sources/com/example/module1/sub1/subclass3.java
** module 2:
sources/com/example/module2/class1.java
sources/com/example/module2/class2.java
sources/com/example/module2/class3.java
sources/com/example/module2/sub1/subclass1.java
sources/com/example/module2/sub1/subclass2.java
sources/com/example/module2/sub1/subclass3.java
=> My application will compile module 1, do some other things with it and the module 2 and again do some other things with it.
The result would be:
Application started.
Loading configuration: OK
Compiling sources for module module1: E:\temp\_User_\project\packaging\workingdir\source\com/example/module1\class1.java:12: error while writing com.example.module1.class1: com\example\module1\classes\com\example\module1\class1.class (The system cannot find the path specified)public class class1 extends Thread {
       ^
Note: Some input files use or override a deprecated API.
Note: Recompile with -deprecation for details.
1 error
OK
Note: Contents of my classes directory for module1:
classes/com/example/module1/class1.class
classes/com/example/module1/class2.class
classes/com/example/module1/class3.class
classes/com/example/module1/sub1/subclass1.class
classes/com/example/module1/sub1/subclass2.class
classes/com/example/module1/sub1/subclass3.class
=> all class files are correctly compiled
Compiling sources for module module2: E:\temp\_User_\project\packaging\workingdir\source\com/example/module2\class1.java:12: error while writing com.example.module2.class1: com\example\module2\classes\com\example\module2\class1.class (The system cannot find the path specified)public class class1 extends Thread {
       ^
Note: Some input files use or override a deprecated API.
Note: Recompile with -deprecation for details.
1 error
OK
Application finished without errors.
Note: Contents of my classes directory for module2:
classes/com/example/module2/class1.class
classes/com/example/module2/class2.class
classes/com/example/module2/class3.class
classes/com/example/module2/sub1/subclass1.class
classes/com/example/module2/sub1/subclass2.class
classes/com/example/module2/sub1/subclass3.class
So, as you can see everything compiles as expected, but an error message is displayed related to each first file that is compiled.
==> Is this a known issue ?
==> What can I do about it ?
Suggestions welcome