Alex incorporates the best of all build worlds. Convention based builds with easy extensibility. Alex also incorporates a build DSL, which gets rid of the xml clutter offered by most build systems.

The simplest build file should look something like this:

define project as { 
 name: “some_widget”, 
 version: “0.01-alpha” 
}

set property src to “java/src” 
set property build_dir to “target/classes”

define dependency ivy://commons-logging.commons-logging version 1.1.1 as logging for all 
define dependency commons-lang.commons-lang version LATEST as lang for compile, test, package 
define dependency file:///home/user/dependencies/spring-2.5.5.jar as spring-full for compile

compile java from “${src}” to “${build_dir}” 
compile groovy from “groovy/src” to “target/groovy_classes” 
compile resources from “resources” to “target/classes”

create jar named “CoolWidget.jar” 
 from “${build_dir}” and “target/groovy_classes” 
{ 
 manifest: “path/to/MANIFEST”, 
 include: [ “**/*.class”, “**/*.xml”, “**/*.properties” ] 
}

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