Eclipse build.xml Ant Tab Has "Reference not Found" Error; Runs Fine

Question

In my build.xml, Eclipse indicates there is an error, but running the Ant task in Eclipse or from the command line works fine. The error is: "Reference cobertura.classpath not found." for the code:

    <path id="cobertura.classpath">
        <pathelement location="/usr/share/java/cobertura.jar" />
    </path>

    <taskdef resource="tasks.properties">
        <classpath refid="cobertura.classpath" />
    </taskdef>

If I change the code to following, the error goes away:

    <taskdef resource="tasks.properties">
        <classpath location="/usr/share/java/cobertura.jar" />
    </taskdef>

Why can't Eclipse correctly parse the first code snippit?

Answer 1

Looks like a bug in the Eclipse Ant parser. That it should work either way indicates it's not a bug in the Ant libraries Eclipse uses.

Eclipse's plug-in architecture often adds parsers to build the "internal" elements of the files which are used for navigation trees, cross-references, etc. On rare occasions, those parsers deviate from the functionality that's actually available within the library implementation.

I'd check to see if you have any other items (properties, etc) which approximate or might confuse the id. Beyond that, I'd be ready to file a bug report.