Question

I have defined a macro in ANT that checks if a dir exists on a remote linux box:

<macrodef name="checkIfDirExists">
    <attribute name="host" />
    <attribute name="username" />
    <attribute name="password" />
    <attribute name="dir" />
    <sequential>
        <runcommand executable="[ -d @{dir} ]" host="@{host}" username="@{username}" password="@{password}"/>
    </sequential>
</macrodef>

runcommand is just a wrapper macro for sshexec task that validates some additional stuff, but basically it’s just an sshexec.

Right now, if i run this, it works in a way that if the directory exists the build go on but if it doesn’t exist the build fails since [ -d @{dir} ] return value is 1.

I want to be able to check the return value so i can put it in a conditional tag, for example if the dir exists, skip, and if it doesn’t create it with mkdir.

Is this possible ?

Answer 1

This is a total stab in the dark, I don’t know if ant will let you do this. However if it’s invoking bash on the remote host, it should work.

<macrodef name="checkIfDirExists">
    <attribute name="host" />
    <attribute name="username" />
    <attribute name="password" />
    <attribute name="dir" />
    <sequential>
        <runcommand executable="[ -d @{dir} ] || mkdir @{dir}" host="@{host}" username="@{username}" password="@{password}"/>
    </sequential>
</macrodef>

This way if the directory exists it will short circuit and return success. If it doesn’t exist, it will call mkdir. If mkdir fails, then ant will fail.