How to Auto Increment version (build id) with Ant

For those who are still stuck with manual ant builds, this tiny little tip will tell you how to auto increment the version number with each Ant build. Follow the steps:

1. Create a file say build.number (or change the name to one which gives you pride)
2. Add the following target to your build.xml file, change entry key to whatever you want the property name to be:

<target name="increment_teh_build_number">
<propertyfile file="build.number"
              comment="Build Number for ANT. Edit not!">
<entry key="build.number" type="int" 
     operation="+" 
     default="1" />
</propertyfile>
</target>

3. Make sure this target is executed on successful build for example after 'test' target, Once this target is executed you can use property build.number where-ever you like in build.xml, For example,

<property name="app.version" value="${major.minor}.${build.number}" />

Hope that saves you some.