What is .project file in an Android project?

Question

I am looking into an open source Android project.

It has a file named ".project" and content of the file is,

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<projectDescription>
    <name>AntennaPod</name>
    <comment></comment>
    <projects>
    </projects>
    <buildSpec>
        <buildCommand>
            <name>com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.ResourceManagerBuilder</name>
            <arguments>
            </arguments>
        </buildCommand>
        <buildCommand>
            <name>com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.PreCompilerBuilder</name>
            <arguments>
            </arguments>
        </buildCommand>
        <buildCommand>
            <name>org.eclipse.jdt.core.javabuilder</name>
            <arguments>
            </arguments>
        </buildCommand>
        <buildCommand>
            <name>com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.ApkBuilder</name>
            <arguments>
            </arguments>
        </buildCommand>
    </buildSpec>
    <natures>
        <nature>com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.AndroidNature</nature>
        <nature>org.eclipse.jdt.core.javanature</nature>
    </natures>
</projectDescription>

I would like to know what does this file do? When do we need this file?

also if there is any reference of the used tag in this file.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:59

2

The .project file is an Eclipse file that describes the project. It is needed if you are loading the project in the Eclipse IDE.

See here for more info: What's in an Eclipse .classpath/.project file?

edited May 23 '17 at 11:59

Community

1
1

answered Jun 17 '15 at 05:13

BrentM

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 17 '15 at 05:18

When a project is created in the workspace, a project description file is automatically generated that describes the project. The purpose of this file is to make the project self-describing, so that a project that is zipped up or released to a server can be correctly recreated in another workspace. This file is always called ".project", and is located as a direct member of the project's content area.

You can get all the details here

What is .project file in an Android project?

2 Answers2