Future Plans

   Below we describe our future plans for JWare/AntXtras Foundation. AntXtras distributions are broken up into different release series. A series is really another word for all the releases of a particular main version number. We currently support three series: the 0.5.x series also called the v1 series, the 2.x series also called the v2 series, and the 3.x series also called the v3 series. You can use the AntXtras Feature Requests Tracker to submit your own enhancement suggestions for the v2 or v3 series.

1. The v1 series is the original release from iDare Media, requires only Java SE 1.4, and is compatible with Ant 1.6.5 through Ant 1.7.x. For all real purposes, this series is closed and deprecated in favor of a newer series, although we will try to fix breaking incompatibilities with any new 1.7.x Ant releases. If you have to use Ant 1.6.x, you must use this version of AntXtras as it’s the only one still compatible with that older Ant version.
   
   
2. The v2 series represents a re-branded path for AntXtras under the independent JWare Software (org.jwaresoftware) namespace, and is the beginning of the refactoring for the v3 series. The v2 series still requires only a 1.4 JRE and is compatible with Ant 1.7.x. This is the best series for production environments for Ant 1.7.x. This series is NOT compatible with any version of Ant 1.6.x or Ant 1.8.x!
   
   
3. The v3 series is the development line for AntXtras; it requires at least Java SE 1.5 and Ant 1.8.0. In a nutshell, this is where we will put any significant “new stuff.” This is the best series for production environments for Ant 1.8.x. This series is NOT compatible with any version of Ant 1.6.x or Ant 1.7.x!

Generally, we alter and refine AntXtras/Foundation as the need arises. In particular, as new versions of Ant are released, we will change AntXtras so it remains up-to-date and takes advantage of new Ant infrastructure where feasible and worth the effort. Aside from the “public” changes forced by new Ant releases, we often change AntXtras’ internals to support its many sub-projects. Starting with the v2 release we will try to release a new version every few months to ensure the public version closely tracks the versions shipped with newer releases of sub-projects even if all changes are internal and do not impact the public antlib (we envision 2 or 3 times per year).

In all cases, we fold most changes into the next major release for a particular active series; branches (like ‘2.1.1’ or ‘3.0.1’) are not done typically. There are two scenarios where this general rule does not hold: there is a critical issue with a newly released AntXtras package, or, there is a breaking incompatibility with a new Ant release and the next AntXtras release won’t be available any time soon (and cannot be pushed forward). Critical fixes for closed series (like v1) fall under the second exception.

We often reschedule features to the next major release if we decide there are enough new concepts and/or components for the release under construction. Items rescheduled in this manner have not fallen behind schedule per se, they’ve just been re-prioritized with regards to the current release.

• Sign releases. [2.0.0]
• Fix .sha1 files to work with sha1sum out-of-box. [2.0.0b2]
• Integrate with Ant 1.7.1. [2.0.0]
• Integrate with Ant 1.8. [3.0.0b1, FS#188]
• Remove v1-based deprecated components and parameters. [3.0.0b1, FS#187]
• Complete migration to new namespace and wiki. [3.0.0]
• Upgrade User Guide for v3 series. [3.0.0]
• Move more infrequently-used components to advanced antlib. [3.0.0, FS#146]
• Shrink main antlib jar size to ~500K. [4.0.0, FS#146]
• Investigate Maven2 repository compatible packaging option.

• Create <fallback> task to complement <prefer>. [2.0.0b2, FS#135]
• Enhance <unassign> to support multiple items to unassign at once. [3.0.0b2, FS#140]
• Add support for custom classpaths and filepaths to various fixture control and admin tasks. [3.0.0]
• Add support for ”+l” to <assign> task. [3.0.0b2, FS#153]
• Enhance <overlay> to work with namespace aware attributes. [3.0.0b2, FS#183]
• Investigate integration with EasyAnt project.
• Add support for SAMS and Akimabu structure.

• Add <isfile> shorthand condition. [2.0.0b2, FS#147]
• The “httpalive” shorthand conditions should support a secondary “maxwait[millis]” modifier.
• Add generic <exists> condition to base AntXtras framework.
• Shorthand conditions need to support “loaderref” modifier. [on-hold, FS#91]

• Resurrect the <copymsg> 0.5.x component as <copymessage> in v2 series. [2.0.0b2, FS#137]
• Add support for “true” parameter to <show> task to widen set of criteria used to write to file. [FS#144]
• Enhance <show> to support a “tofile” parameter like standard <echo>. [3.0.0b1, FS#176]
• Make splitentries=“yes” the default for <capturelogs> [3.0.0b1, FS#184]

• Finish porting programmer tests for all shortcuts. [2.0.0]
• Documentation documentation documentation! [3.0.0]
• Add $sysenv: and $system: function shortcuts. [2.0.0b2, FS#100]
• Finish implementation of short shortcuts: $p:, $v:, $r:, $g: [2.0.0b2, FS#89]
• Finish $fixture: function shortcut ($x:). [2.0.0b2, FS#85]