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Apache Ant vs Apache Maven: What are the differences?
What is Apache Ant? 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.
What is Apache Maven? Apache build manager for Java projects. 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.
Apache Ant and Apache Maven can be primarily classified as "Java Build" tools.
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, Apache Maven provides the following key features:
- Simple project setup that follows best practices - get a new project or module started in seconds
- Consistent usage across all projects means no ramp up time for new developers coming onto a project
- Superior dependency management including automatic updating, dependency closures (also known as transitive dependencies)
"Flexible" is the top reason why over 3 developers like Apache Ant, while over 125 developers mention "Dependency management" as the leading cause for choosing Apache Maven.
Apache Ant and Apache Maven are both open source tools. Apache Maven with 1.74K GitHub stars and 1.28K forks on GitHub appears to be more popular than Apache Ant with 247 GitHub stars and 253 GitHub forks.
According to the StackShare community, Apache Maven has a broader approval, being mentioned in 305 company stacks & 142 developers stacks; compared to Apache Ant, which is listed in 24 company stacks and 12 developer stacks.
Pros of Apache Ant
- Flexible4
- Simple1
- Easy to learn1
- Easy to write own java-build-hooks1
Pros of Apache Maven
- Dependency management137
- Necessary evil71
- I’d rather code my app, not my build59
- Publishing packaged artifacts48
- Convention over configuration43
- Modularisation18
- Consistency across builds11
- Prevents overengineering using scripting6
- Runs Tests4
- Lot of cool plugins4
- Extensible3
- Hard to customize2
- Runs on Linux2
- Runs on OS X1
- Slow incremental build1
- Inconsistent buillds1
- Undeterminisc1
- Good IDE tooling1
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Cons of Apache Ant
- Slow1
- Old and not widely used anymore1
Cons of Apache Maven
- Complex6
- Inconsistent buillds1
- Not many plugin-alternatives0
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What is Apache Ant?
What is Apache Maven?
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