About
Classpath in a Ant Context
Element
The classpath element is defined and has the scope of a task.
<classpath>
<pathelement location="lib/helper.jar"/>
<pathelement path="${classpath}"/>
</classpath>
where:
- the location attribute refer to a single file or directory relative to the project's base directory (or an absolute filename)
- the path attribute accepts colon- or semicolon-separated lists of locations. PATH attribute use also “:” and “;” as separator characters.
Library
Libraries can be added to Ant's classpath in any of the following way:
| Priority | Library | Library Scope |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | in ANT_HOME/lib directory | All Ant users and builds |
| 2 | in ${user.home}/.ant/lib (as of Ant 1.6) | The command-line Ant |
| 3 | with the command line -lib parameter | The command |
| 4 | in the CLASSPATH environment variable | To Avoid All Java applications |
| 5 | in the <classpath> element | Preferred option The task |
Support
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException
To test for classpath-related problems, set the -noclasspath option. Ant will then stop using the CLASSPATH environment variable.
ant -noclasspath