If you are familiar with the world of Android application development, you would be aware of the 2 most widely used build systems in this space, which are Eclipse and Ant. Both have their own fair share of followers and adopters, who would swear by their chosen build system.

However, like all programming systems, each would have its own share of pros and cons. More aptly, there would always be some things lacking in one build system which the other has and vice versa. To bridge this gap, Google has announced a new build system, which will make the development process more versatile. The objective is to further build upon the the functionality and versatility of Eclipse ADT and Ant, and create a unified system which will eventually replace these.

The project is still in an infant stage, as it has just reached build 0.1 currently, and is not ready yet to dish out 100% ready apps. However, experienced devs who have played with the early build are impressed with what they have seen. Particularly so with the ability to create simultaneous builds of development and production versions of the same app, a process that had to be carried out separately insofar.

The project is entirely AOSP based, which means that the source code is available to developers to play with and create their own customized version of the build system. Google, for now, is seeking a lot of feedback from developers, in fact encouraging a lot of it. It has also made available a bundle of small projects for download, which allow devs to see and experience first-hand some of the abilities and versatility the new build system offers.

Well, what can we say, other than that there are exciting times ahead for the Android eco-system. If you are a developer, and want more information on this project, you can head over to the source site and check it out.