Ant project without "default" attribute, it is possible?

I have been trying to follow a project that have been created using ant. However, it is a kind of difficult to understand it. The build.xml is like this:

<project name="FepmInputWrapper_dev" basedir="..">

    <property name="project.dir" location="Config"/>
    <property file="${project.dir}/basis.properties"/>
    <import>
        <file file="${project.dir}/basis.xml"/>
    </import>
    
</project>

I'm very new with ant, but according what I have read it supposed to have in the first line, an attribute call "default". for example:

<project name="FepmInputWrapper_dev" basedir=".." default="">

Can anyone help me on telling me how can I start read this project? Do I have to read first the "basis.properties" or "basis.xml".

Thank you in advance,

Solution

The default attribute is not required. It simply names a target that will be run if no target is specified by the user.

For example, if your build.xml contains this:

<project name="my-project" default="deploy">
  <target name="deploy">
    <echo message="Deploying" />
  </target>
</project>

The user can just type ant, and the deploy target will run. If the default attribute were removed (or set to a blank value), nothing would happen.