I think I would still prefer NAnt because it is cross-platform and open-source, but 
found this little blurb interesting.  I wonder if it is in the preview stuff being 
passed out at the PDC this week?  I guess I'll have to order up my copy and see (I get 
it as part of my companies solution provider subscription).

For those that do not know, Whidbey is the project name for the next version of 
VS.NET.  Up to now, I've been most interested in the new C# features -- most notably, 
generics.

>> MICROSOFT BLURB FOLLOWS <<
Product Build

Historically, developers have struggled when trying to map a complicated build 
infrastructure into the Visual Studio IDE. Roadblocks traditionally center around the 
inability to fully customize or understand what happens when a project is built within 
the development environment; the failure to reproduce a build within a build lab 
environment where Visual Studio is not likely to be present; and the limitations of a 
build system that was not optimized to model entire products, but rather single 
projects. 

The Whidbey release of Visual Studio will radically improve this area of software 
development by introducing a new build engine called MSBuild. Key design goals for 
MSBuild include: delivering a file format that is well-documented and backed up by a 
published XML schema definition; making the MSBuild engine an integral part of the 
.NET Framework redistributable; allowing developers to customize, augment or 
completely redefine the build process; and providing seamless integration with the 
Visual Studio Whidbey IDE. 

First, MSBuild will introduce a new XML-based file format that is simple to understand 
and easy to extend. The MSBuild file format will enable developers to fully describe 
what artifacts need to be built, as well as how they need to be built under different 
configurations. In addition, the file format will enable developers to author reusable 
rules which can be factored into separate files so that builds can be done 
consistently across different projects within a product.

Second, MSBuild will ship as a core part of the Whidbey .NET Framework 
redistributable. This shift in philosophy will allow developers to rely on the MSBuild 
infrastructure regardless of IDE presence and licensing issues. In addition, by 
providing MSBuild class libraries as a core part of the .NET Framework, developers 
will be able to create and debug components of a customized MSBuild process using the 
managed language of their choice.

Third, MSBuild will be completely transparent with regards to how it processes and 
builds software. All build steps will be explicitly expressed in the XML project file 
regardless of whether it was authored by hand or auto-generated by the Visual Studio 
Whidbey IDE. This also means that Visual Studio no longer treats any part of the "F5" 
build experience as a black box. A user can now understand, replicate, edit, remove, 
or augment any part of the build process. 

Finally like its predecessors, MSBuild will be fully integrated into the Visual Studio 
Whidbey IDE. This tight integration will enable developers to take advantage of all 
the built-in productivity features Visual Studio offers, while allowing developers to 
scale, customize, and adapt the Whidbey build system to their unique infrastructure 
needs.


-------------------------------------
TFC
 




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