Rules for build system changes

[Ryan Hoegg]

Hi all,

I am getting close to a presentable version of my Commons HttpClient transport. It is time to start planning the changes to build.xml.

My local copy just has the new dependency (commons-httpclient-2.0-alpha2.jar) loading from my build.properties similarly to how jsse.jar and friends are included. It also assumes availability of the HttpClient classes at runtime.

Should I provide a separate build target for this transport, thereby allowing you all to continue building and testing without the Commons HttpClient classes?

Also, this change will have the same dilemma we are seeing with Base64 moving to Codec: How much should we shield our users from runtime dependencies?

--
Ryan Hoegg
ISIS Networks
http://www.isisnetworks.net