The Ant component is designed to bring the power of Ant and Eclipse together. Ant is a Java based build tool. In theory it is kind of like make without make's wrinkles. It exists independent of Eclipse as an Apache open source project. Integrating Ant into Eclipse means:
� Executing Ant buildfiles from Eclipse
� Enabling access to Eclipse resources/function from Ant buildfiles (i.e., providing Ant tasks for Eclipse)
� Providing UI support for running Ant buildfiles and managing their output
� Providing Ant buildfile development facilities (e.g., buildfile editors, debuggers, ...)
The goal of this component is to make Eclipse's Ant tooling the environment of choice for Ant users and support Eclipse-based developers in their product build requirements.