Rmic Task

## Rmic

### Description

Runs the rmic compiler for a certain class.

Rmic can be run on a single class (as specified with the classname attribute) or a number of classes at once (all classes below base that are neither _Stub nor _Skel classes). If you want to rmic a single class and this class is a class nested into another class, you have to specify the classname in the form `Outer$$Inner` instead of `Outer.Inner`.

It is possible to refine the set of files that are being rmiced. This can be done with the includes, includesfile, excludes, excludesfile and defaultexcludes attributes. With the includes or includesfile attribute you specify the files you want to have included by using patterns. The exclude or excludesfile attribute is used to specify the files you want to have excluded. This is also done with patterns. And finally with the defaultexcludes attribute, you can specify whether you want to use default exclusions or not. See the section on directory based tasks, on how the inclusion/exclusion of files works, and how to write patterns.

This task forms an implicit FileSet and supports most attributes of `<fileset>` (`dir` becomes `base`) as well as the nested `<include>`, `<exclude>` and `<patternset>` elements.

It is possible to use different compilers. This can be selected with the "build.rmic" property, the `compiler` attribute. or a nested element. Here are the choices:

- default -the default compiler (kaffe, sun or forking) for the platform.
- sun (the standard compiler of the JDK < JDK 9)
- kaffe (the standard compiler of Kaffe)
- weblogic
- forking - the sun compiler forked into a separate process (since Apache Ant 1.7). Starting with Ant 1.9.8 this is the default when running on JDK 9+.
- xnew - the sun compiler forked into a separate process, with the -Xnew option (since Ant 1.7). This is the most reliable way to use -Xnew.
  JDK9 has removed support for -Xnew and starting with Ant 1.9.8 this option will be rejected by ant when running on JDK9.
- "" (empty string). This has the same behaviour as not setting the compiler attribute. First the value of `build.rmic` is used if defined, and if not, the default for the platform is chosen. If build.rmic is set to this, you get the default.

The miniRMI project contains a compiler implementation for this task as well, please consult miniRMI's documentation to learn how to use it.

#### CORBA support

Java 11 removes the CORBA and JavaEE packages and rmic no longer supports either `iiop` nor `idl`. Starting with Ant 1.9.11 the rmic task will fail when using either while running Java11+ unless you fork the task and explicitly specify an executable.

### Parameters

Attribute | Description | Required
base | the location to store the compiled files. Also serves as the parent directory for any non-Fileset includes, etc. (This functionality has remained unchanged.) | *1
destdir | the location to store the compiled files.
classname | the class for which to run `rmic`. | No
filtering | indicates whether token filtering should take place | No
sourcebase | Pass the "-keepgenerated" flag to rmic and move the generated source file to the given sourcebase directory. | No
stubversion | Specify the JDK version for the generated stub code. Specify "1.1" to pass the "-v1.1" option to rmic, "1.2" for -v12, compat for -vcompat. Since Ant1.7, if you do not specify a version, and do not ask for iiop or idl files, "compat" is selected. | No, default="compat"
classpath | The classpath to use during compilation | No
classpathref | The classpath to use during compilation, given as reference to a PATH defined elsewhere | No
includes | comma- or space-separated list of patterns of files that must be included. All files are included when omitted. | No
includesfile | the name of a file. Each line of this file is taken to be an include pattern | No
excludes | comma- or space-separated list of patterns of files that must be excluded. No files (except default excludes) are excluded when omitted. | No
excludesfile | the name of a file. Each line of this file is taken to be an exclude pattern | No
defaultexcludes | indicates whether default excludes should be used or not ("yes"/"no"). Default excludes are used when omitted. | No
verify | check that classes implement Remote before handing them to rmic (default is false) | No
iiop | indicates that portable (RMI/IIOP) stubs should be generated. See the note on CORBA support above. | No
iiopopts | additional arguments for IIOP class generation | No
idl | indicates that IDL output files should be generated. See the note on CORBA support above. | No
idlopts | additional arguments for IDL file generation | No
debug | generate debug info (passes -g to rmic). Defaults to false. | No
includeAntRuntime | whether to include the Ant run-time libraries; defaults to `yes`. | No
includeJavaRuntime | whether to include the default run-time libraries from the executing VM; defaults to `no`. | No
extdirs | location of installed extensions. | No
compiler | The compiler implementation to use. If this attribute is not set, the value of the `build.rmic` property, if set, will be used. Otherwise, the default compiler for the current VM will be used. (See the above list of valid compilers.) | No
executable | Complete path to the `rmic` executable to use in case of the `forking` or `xnew` compiler. Defaults to the rmic compiler of the Java version that is currently running Ant. Since Ant 1.8.0. | No
listfiles | Indicates whether the source files to be compiled will be listed; defaults to `no`. Since Ant 1.8.0. | No

*1:

- Maintaining compatibility, `base`, when specified by itself, serves as both the parent directory for any source files AND the output directory.
- `destdir` can be used to specify the output directory, allowing for `base` to be used as the parent directory for any source files.
- At least one of either `base` or `destdir` must be specified and exist, or a runtime error will occur.

### Parameters specified as nested elements

#### classpath and extdirs

`Rmic`'s classpath and extdirs attributes are PATH like structure and can also be set via a nested classpath and extdirs elements.

#### compilerarg

You can specify additional command line arguments for the compiler with nested `<compilerarg>` elements. These elements are specified like Command-line Arguments but have an additional attribute that can be used to enable arguments only if a given compiler implementation will be used.

Attribute | Description | Required
value | See Command-line Arguments. | Exactly one of these.
line
file
path
prefix | See Command-line Arguments. Since Ant 1.8. | No
suffix | No
compiler | Only pass the specified argument if the chosen compiler implementation matches the value of this attribute. Legal values are the same as those in the above list of valid compilers.) | No

#### compilerclasspath since Ant 1.8.0

A PATH like structure holding the classpath to use when loading the compiler implementation if a custom class has been specified. Doesn't have any effect when using one of the built-in compilers.

#### Any nested element of a type that implements RmicAdapter since Ant 1.8.0

If a defined type implements the `RmicAdapter` interface a nested element of that type can be used as an alternative to the `compiler` attribute.

### Examples

      <rmic classname="com.xyz.FooBar" base="${build}/classes"/>

runs the rmic compiler for the class `com.xyz.FooBar`. The compiled files will be stored in the directory `${build}/classes`.

      <rmic base="${build}/classes" includes="**/Remote*.class"/>

runs the rmic compiler for all classes with `.class` files below `${build}/classes` whose classname starts with Remote. The compiled files will be stored in the directory `${build}/classes`.

If you want to use a custom RmicAdapter `org.example.MyAdapter` you can either use the compiler attribute:

    <rmic classname="com.xyz.FooBar"
          base="${build}/classes"
          compiler="org.example.MyAdapter"/>

or a define a type and nest this into the task like in:

    <componentdef classname="org.example.MyAdapter"
                  name="myadapter"/>
    <rmic classname="com.xyz.FooBar"
          base="${build}/classes">
      <myadapter/>
    </rmic>

in which case your compiler adapter can support attributes and nested elements of its own.