ant depends vs. antcall

Question

When defining sequential build steps I use the depends attribute of the target element. I have recently seen an ant file, where the build sequence was defined by antcall elements inside the targets. To illustrate :

<target name="a" depends="b">
...</target>

vs

<target name="a">
<antcall target="b"/>
...</target>

Is there a real difference between the two approaches? Is one of them preferable?

Answer 1

The main difference between both approaches is that targets in depends are always executed, while targets in antcall are executed only if the containing target is.

A clarifying example:

<target name="a" depends="b" if="some.flag">

</target>

Here, b will always be executed, while a will be executed only if some.flag is defined.

<target name="a" if="some.flag">
    <antcall target="b" />
</target>

Here, b will only be executed if a is, i.e. if some.flag is defined.