afbarnard
commented
12 years ago Agreed. Build system is the next thing. I've been building the Java by hand, which is fairly easy once the classpath is set.
The people I have talked to in the Programming Languages group have suggested a language-specific system as the best if you are in a one-language situation (e.g. Cabal for Haskell). So Ant would probably be that for Java. However, we are in a multiple language situation. Then the suggestions are Scons and its derivative Waf. There are downsides to Scons, some weird semantics here and there and the like. I assume there are also some downsides to Waf, but I haven't looked deeply. The benefits (only need Python, build library ships with builder so version problems don't exist) seem to be compelling enough to give it a try.
There is always some learning cost with a new technology/system. But that's part of the fun, right?
As a resolution I would suggest mocking up a Java build with Waf and if you think there are significant issues we can revisit our options. I guess I will push my branch so you can fork it and have some code to play with.
We need a build system. Also testing out and learning about the issue tracker.
Waf has been suggested.
After a quick perusal of the documentation it looks like substantial effort will be required to become sufficiently familiar with Waf to set it up and use it. On the other hand it appears it can handle a multiple language project like this fairly well.