startdir and 'current directory' not the same when build.xml not in current directory

[anonymous]

In the documentation, specifying a project as:

<project ... basedir=".">

(which I believe is the same as leaving 'basedir' unspecified)

is supposed to mean "current directory". I would interpret that to mean "the directory that phing was executed in".

However, when specifying a build.xml file in another directory, the 'current directory' becomes the directory the build file is in, not the directory that phing is executed in. I.e. with a build file of:

/some/path/dir1/build.xml:

<project name="Test" default="main" basedir=".">
    <target name="main">
        <exec command="pwd" passthru="true"/>
        <echo msg="Startdir: ${application.startdir}"/>
    </target>
</project>

If you do:

cd /some/path/dir2
phing -f ../dir1/build.xml main

The output is:

	[exec] Executing command: pwd 2>&1
	[exec] /some/path/dir1
	[echo] Startdir: /some/path/dir2

Which shows that commands are executed in the directory the build.xml file is in *not* the "current path" (as I would define "current path").

Either this is not the correct behavior and the 'current working directory' shouldn't be changed to the directory the build.xml file is in, or the documentation should make it clear that "current directory" means the directory the build.xml file is in, *not* the directory where phing is executed.

---Lawrence

[anonymous]

Note:

Specifying basedir as:

<project ... basedir="${application.startdir}">

does not work either. It results in an error message of:

Basedir /some/path/dir1/${application.startdir} does not exist

[mrook]

(In [668]) Refs #309 - use getcwd() to resolve basedir attribute

[mrook]

This was not listed correctly in the documentation, and I agree with you that basedir needs to resolved against the current directory. r668 implements this, omitting the basedir attribute sets it to the parent directory of the used build file (original behavior).

[mp@…]

I think the "old" (pre-r668) behaviour was right.

The basedir attribute defines the project.basedir property and has to be based on the buildfile's location. Think of project.basedir as a reference to the "project root", regardless where a project has been checked out. The buildfile knows its location relative to the project root, so the basedir attribute must be relative to the buildfile.

If you want to perform tasks in the directory phing was started in, application.startdir should be the right property.

[mp]

Re-reading the initial report, I have no clear opinion regarding the "correct" cwd.

But with a clear distinction between project.basedir (the "root" of the project the buildfile belongs to, set by the buildfile) and application.startdir (the directory phing was started in) buildfiles can always use the one or other to create absolute references depending on the task at hand.

[mp]

(In [1128]) Refs #309 - revert changeset [668]

[mp]

Tried to fix this with documentation improvements on the 2.5 branch (might break BC on 2.4, behaviour is like it was on 2.3 and before).