Gradle calculate ant dependencies differently

Old Forum Archive Bugs
1

I found this issue in Gradle 2.2.1, below is a demo for explaining it, all files are in a same directory:

main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project
  default="function"
  name="main"
>
<import file="./sub-script.xml"/>
<target name="function" depends="sub.function, cleanStuff">
    <echo message="I am in main function!"/>
</target>

<target name="function2"  depends="sub.function2, cleanStuff">
    <echo message="I am in main function2!"/>
</target>

<target name="cleanStuff">
    <echo message="I am cleaning!!"/>
</target>

</project>

sub-script.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project
  default="function"
  name="sub"
>indent preformatted text by 4 spaces
<target name="function">
    <echo message="I am in sub function!"/>
</target>

<target name="function2">
    <echo message="I am in sub function2!"/>
</target>

<target name="entrance" depends="function, function2"/>

</project>

build.gradle

ant.importBuild file('main.xml')

Under the command line, if I run ant -f main.xml entrance, the output is:

sub.function:
     [echo] I am in sub function!

cleanStuff:
     [echo] I am cleaning!!

function:
     [echo] I am in main function!

sub.function2:
     [echo] I am in sub function2!

function2:
     [echo] I am in main function2!

entrance:

BUILD SUCCESSFUL

While if I run gradle entrance, the output is:

:sub.function
[ant:echo] I am in sub function!
:sub.function2
[ant:echo] I am in sub function2!
:cleanStuff
[ant:echo] I am cleaning!!
:function
[ant:echo] I am in main function!
:function2
[ant:echo] I am in main function2!
:entrance

BUILD SUCCESSFUL

As you can see, the task sequence is different between ant and gradle.

I cannot say if it is a defect for gradle as the calculated sequence does not break any rules, but surely it may cause confusions when developers are migrating from ant to gradle.

2

Ant attempts to preserve order when multiple target dependencies are listed. Gradle makes no such guarantee. Since every Ant target is created as a Gradle task, the Gradle task execution order rules take effect. If the order is important here you can configure the task ordering to make the Gradle build behave similarly.

3

Hi Mark,

Thanks a lot for your explanation.