Microsoft Build

Microsoft Build, "MSBuild" is a new MicrosoftDotNet build tool that integrates with VisualStudioWhidbey.

It is a derivative of ApacheAnt, although the MSBuild team seem reluctant to acknowledge the fact. Certainly NantTool has influenced the product a lot.

Unlike ApacheAnt and NantTool, MSBuild has a different dependency model; one in which dependencies are usually more explicit and almost invariably file based. This makes the tool somewhat more verbose than the others. It does, however, have a good inheritance model built in from the outset.

MSBuild is designed to be tightly integrated with the VisualStudioWhidbey IDE, such that it can replace the conventional IDE project configuration file. This explains many of the design decisions regarding an explicitness that is painful to do by hand. Most people are expected to work within the IDE.

C++ and classic native x86 code is probably beyond the scope of version 1.0