A poor man's Ant build number incrementer

Note: this was originally posted November 17, 2009 on my old blog.

Our situation: our build server uses Ant to automatically get the latest versions of the source files, build the application and deploy it.  A build number is updated in a properties file, but we lost the ability to check that file back into source control. (no write access for build user to source control server). This means the build number, say 500, is always incremented to 501, packaged into the war file, and sent out on the server.  The next night, another automated build kicks off and the properties file is retrieved with the current build number set at 500.  So the build process dutifully adds one to it, builds and packages the application and sends it off to the server with the build number at 501.  Again.

We needed a way to increment the build number to accurately reflect that a new build is generated and put out on the server - this helps not only to keep tabs on how many times we build the application, but the build number is also used as a random salt in the request parameters to prevent caching issues with browsers.

A personal update

For Christmas 2014, I got a pretty hefty gift:  I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.  A large tumor in the sigmoid colon and several smaller tumors had spread to the liver.  Not a good thing to have.

I am fairly young (mid-30's), never smoked nor chewed tobacco, rarely drink alcohol, and my diet is pretty good.  I could do with more exercise but I am generally close to my "ideal" body weight.  No family history either except my maternal grandfather, who got cancer at a very late age.  What caused it? Was it some random charcoal bit from some burnt toast?  Was it that anti-freeze chugging contest?  We will probably never know.

Been doing chemotherapy treatments for a while now.  They are pretty excruciating.  I've had to stop working due to fatigue and weakness.  Beware, there is a lot of misinformation out there.  Google is not your friend here.

I picked up a book: American Cancer Society Complete Guide to Nutrition for Cancer Survivors: Eating Well, Staying Well During and After Cancer.  Lots of evidence-based information in here.  Comments on things like different diets, different foods, etc.


I get to stay home more so I figure I will write more.  Be positive, take care.