CAnt2 is a build tool targetting C/C++ source code projects, though it is also intended to be useful for more general build tasks.
It is currently in a very early state, with the initial set of source code being put together in a Win32 environment.
CAnt2 is intended to be Ant like, in that an XML file is used to define the build process. However C/C++ is not Java, and so it is expected that there will be some differences. The XML schema will grow around the needs of the project more as they are discovered, and may or may not mirror features of Ant.
These are the current goals, though some are long term.
Multiplatform. CAnt2 should be usable on Windows and Linux. The same build script should be usable on any platform. Efficient builds. Builds should be limited by the speed of the compiler/linker/related tools. Where possible, source files should be batched for the compiler. Fast incremental builds. A simple change to one file should take less than two seconds to compile and link. (Assuming that code is written to compile/link quickly) Customizable. Arbitrary programs need to be run by the users, and most needs should be satisfied without needing to touch the cant2 sources. Correctness. The build process should do the minimum amount of work, and do it right. Scalable on multi-core/multi-processor machines. Scalable to many projects. All source code should be able to use one common build system, so one can just invoke the tool once to build everything. These goals are inspired by other build tools such as make, Jam/MR (and variants) as well as of course Ant. CAnt2 is also inspired by a blog entry made by Noel Llopis (http://www.gamesfromwithin.com/articles/0506/000092.html).
CAnt2 has the "2" as there is already a cant project hosted by code.google.com, but it is inactive and apparently dead. Initially this author thought to fork the cant source code, but the code in the repository has obvious license issues.
