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  1. Stackups
  2. DevOps
  3. Build Automation
  4. Java Build Tools
  5. Apache Ant vs fastlane

Apache Ant vs fastlane

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Apache Ant
Apache Ant
Stacks250
Followers151
Votes7
GitHub Stars449
Forks449
fastlane
fastlane
Stacks716
Followers437
Votes74
GitHub Stars40.6K
Forks6.0K

Apache Ant vs fastlane: What are the differences?

Developers describe Apache Ant as "Java based build tool". Ant is a Java-based build tool. In theory, it is kind of like Make, without Make's wrinkles and with the full portability of pure Java code. On the other hand, fastlane is detailed as "Connect all iOS deployment tools into one streamlined workflow". fastlane lets you define and run your deployment pipelines for different environments. It helps you unify your app’s release process and automate the whole process. fastlane connects all fastlane tools and third party tools, like CocoaPods.

Apache Ant belongs to "Java Build Tools" category of the tech stack, while fastlane can be primarily classified under "Mobile Continuous Integration".

Some of the features offered by Apache Ant are:

  • The most complete Java build and deployment tool available.
  • Platform neutral and can handle platform specific properties such as file separators
  • Can be used to perform platform specific tasks such as modifying the modified time of a file using 'touch' command

On the other hand, fastlane provides the following key features:

  • Connect all build tools together
  • Define multiple lanes for different needs
  • Jenkins Integration

"Flexible" is the primary reason why developers consider Apache Ant over the competitors, whereas "Easy to use" was stated as the key factor in picking fastlane.

Apache Ant and fastlane are both open source tools. It seems that fastlane with 26K GitHub stars and 3.97K forks on GitHub has more adoption than Apache Ant with 247 GitHub stars and 254 GitHub forks.

Intuit, Zola, and Streamroot are some of the popular companies that use fastlane, whereas Apache Ant is used by LinkedIn, Webedia, and Smart.Biz. fastlane has a broader approval, being mentioned in 93 company stacks & 22 developers stacks; compared to Apache Ant, which is listed in 24 company stacks and 12 developer stacks.

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Detailed Comparison

Apache Ant
Apache Ant
fastlane
fastlane

Ant is a Java-based build tool. In theory, it is kind of like Make, without Make's wrinkles and with the full portability of pure Java code.

fastlane lets you define and run your deployment pipelines for different environments. It helps you unify your app’s release process and automate the whole process. fastlane connects all fastlane tools and third party tools, like CocoaPods.

The most complete Java build and deployment tool available.;Platform neutral and can handle platform specific properties such as file separators;Can be used to perform platform specific tasks such as modifying the modified time of a file using 'touch' command;Scripts are written using plain XML. If you are already familiar with XML, you can learn pretty quickly;Automate complicated repetitive tasks;Interface to develop custom tasks;Can be easily invoked from the command line and it can integrate with free and commercial IDEs
Connect all build tools together;Define multiple lanes for different needs;Jenkins Integration;Extend by adding your own build steps;Deploy from any computer;Release new app updates with the push of a button
Statistics
GitHub Stars
449
GitHub Stars
40.6K
GitHub Forks
449
GitHub Forks
6.0K
Stacks
250
Stacks
716
Followers
151
Followers
437
Votes
7
Votes
74
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 4
    Flexible
  • 1
    Easy to learn
  • 1
    Simple
  • 1
    Easy to write own java-build-hooks
Cons
  • 1
    Old and not widely used anymore
  • 1
    Slow
Pros
  • 20
    Easy to use
  • 13
    Itunes connect deployment
  • 13
    Open Source
  • 11
    Incredible flexability
  • 9
    Third party integrations
Integrations
No integrations available
Testmunk
Testmunk
GitHub
GitHub
Bitbucket
Bitbucket
TestFlight
TestFlight
HockeyApp
HockeyApp
HipChat
HipChat
Crashlytics
Crashlytics
Travis CI
Travis CI
Jenkins
Jenkins
Slack
Slack

What are some alternatives to Apache Ant, fastlane?

Apache Maven

Apache Maven

Maven allows a project to build using its project object model (POM) and a set of plugins that are shared by all projects using Maven, providing a uniform build system. Once you familiarize yourself with how one Maven project builds you automatically know how all Maven projects build saving you immense amounts of time when trying to navigate many projects.

Gradle

Gradle

Gradle is a build tool with a focus on build automation and support for multi-language development. If you are building, testing, publishing, and deploying software on any platform, Gradle offers a flexible model that can support the entire development lifecycle from compiling and packaging code to publishing web sites.

Bazel

Bazel

Bazel is a build tool that builds code quickly and reliably. It is used to build the majority of Google's software, and thus it has been designed to handle build problems present in Google's development environment.

Bitrise

Bitrise

It is a Continous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD) Platform as a Service (PaaS) with a main focus on mobile app development (iOS, Android). You can automate the testing and deployment of your apps with just a few clicks. When you trigger a build a Virtual Machine is assigned to host your build and your defined Workflow (series of Steps scripts) will be executed, step by step.

Buddybuild

Buddybuild

Buddybuild ties together continuous integration, continuous delivery and an iterative feedback solution into a single, seamless platform.

Greenhouse

Greenhouse

Greenhouse automatically builds your project for every commit you make and runs all your unit or UI tests on the emulator/simulator or on real hardware. Automatic build distribution is also supported so that your team and clients are always up to date with the latest state of your apps.

Pants

Pants

Pants is a build system for Java, Scala and Python. It works particularly well for a source code repository that contains many distinct projects.

Codemagic

Codemagic

Codemagic is the developer's favourite CI/CD tool for mobile app projects. Build your Android, iOS, React Native, Ionic, Unity and Flutter projects on Codemagic.

JitPack

JitPack

JitPack is an easy to use package repository for Gradle/Sbt and Maven projects. We build GitHub projects on demand and provides ready-to-use packages.

SBT

SBT

It is similar to Java's Maven and Ant. Its main features are: Native support for compiling Scala code and integrating with many Scala test frameworks.

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