Ant is a Java-based build tool, conceptually similar to make.

Ant uses XML build files that defines a set of targets. Each target
has dependencies (other targets) and contains a set of tasks to
perform.

There are tasks for various things, like compiling ("javac"),
copying ("copy"), deleting ("delete"), executing other programs
("java", "exec", "execon", etc.), stylesheet transformations
("style") and so on.

WWW: http://jakarta.apache.org/ant/