ANT - How to copy a group of files maintaining the Linux permissions

Question

I need to copy a group of files with ant. Unfortunately I can't use the target "copy" because it loses the Linux file permissions. So must use the target "execute" "cp" . How can I pass a group of file to the execute cp target? I know that I have to use a fileset but in which manner I can pass a fileset as argument of the execute cp target?

Answer 1

You can't pass filesets to operating system commands. The best you can do is use the apply task to invoke the "cp" command on each file as follows:

  <apply executable="cp">
     <srcfile/>
     <targetfile/>
     <fileset dir="src" includes="*.txt"/>
     <globmapper from="*.txt" to="output/*.txt"/>
  </apply>

But, I don't really understand why you couldn't combine the copy task with chmod, it would be most efficient:

<copy todir="output">
  <fileset dir="src" includes="*.txt"/>
</copy>

<chmod perm="700">
  <fileset dir="output" includes="*.txt"/>
</chmod>