View source for FAQ Why can't my Ant build find javac?

Ant tasks that include the <tt>javac</tt> task for compiling Java source
will fail if a Java compiler cannot be found. This results in an error message
like the following:
<pre>
   Unable to find a javac compiler;
   com.sun.tools.javac.Main is not on the classpath.
   Perhaps JAVA_HOME does not point to the JDK
</pre>
This simply means that Ant could not find a Java compiler.  The easiest
solution is to make sure that <tt>tools.jar</tt>,
which is included with any JDK&#151;as opposed to a JRE&#151;is on Ant&#146;s classpath. 
You can add items to Ant&#146;s classpath from the '''Ant &gt; Runtime''' preference
page. If you launch Eclipse by using a full JDK instead of a JRE, <tt>tools.jar</tt>
should appear on the Ant classpath automatically.


Alternatively, Ant supports the notion of a <i>compiler adapter</i>, allowing
you to plug in your own Java compiler, such as the Java compiler that is
built into Eclipse. The Eclipse compiler adapter is found in the 
<tt>org.eclipse.jdt.core</tt> in <tt>jdtCompilerAdapter.jar</tt>. Again, you
need to make sure that this JAR is on Ant&#146;s classpath from the Ant preference
page.  Then, simply add the following line to your build file to specify the
compiler:
<pre>
   &lt;property name=&quot;build.compiler&quot; 
      value=&quot;org.eclipse.jdt.core.JDTCompilerAdapter&quot;/&gt;
 </pre>


== See Also: ==

[[FAQ_What_is_Ant%3F]]

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