Replace the Ant build with Gradle, output verified byte-identical

.gitattributes

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Line-ending rules for files where endings are functional.
+# (Pattern follows PR #214 by NicoPiel.)
+
+# Unix start scripts must stay LF
+/gradlew        text eol=lf
+oieserver       text eol=lf
+configure-from-env text eol=lf
+
+# Windows scripts must stay CRLF
+*.bat           text eol=crlf
+
+# Binary files are left untouched
+*.jar           binary

.github/workflows/build.yaml

@@ -32,15 +32,18 @@ jobs:
           java-package: 'jdk+fx'
           distribution: 'zulu'
 
+      - name: Set up Gradle
+        uses: gradle/actions/setup-gradle@ed408507eac070d1f99cc633dbcf757c94c7933a # v4.4.3
+        with:
+          validate-wrappers: true
+
       - name: Build OIE (signed)
         if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
-        working-directory: server
-        run: ant -f mirth-build.xml
+        run: ./gradlew build
 
       - name: Build OIE (unsigned)
         if: github.ref != 'refs/heads/main'
-        working-directory: server
-        run: ant -f mirth-build.xml -DdisableSigning=true -Dcoverage=true
+        run: ./gradlew build -PdisableSigning=true -Pcoverage=true
 
       - name: Package distribution
         run: tar czf openintegrationengine.tar.gz -C server/ setup --transform 's|^setup|openintegrationengine/|'

.gitignore

@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ donkey/donkey-test
 # /client/src/com/mirth/connect/client/ui/panels/reference/
 
 # /client/src/com/mirth/connect/client/ui/util/
-/client/src/com/mirth/connect/client/ui/util/DocParser.java
+/client/src/main/java/com/mirth/connect/client/ui/util/DocParser.java
 
 # /client/src/com/mirth/connect/connectors/
 
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ donkey/donkey-test
 # /client/src/com/mirth/connect/connectors/ws/
 
 # /client/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/
-/client/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/sampledashboardcolumn
+/client/src/main/java/com/mirth/connect/plugins/sampledashboardcolumn
 
 # /client/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/dashboardstatus/
 
@@ -554,14 +554,14 @@ donkey/donkey-test
 # /server/src/com/mirth/connect/model/util/
 
 # /server/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/
-/server/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/Graphical Mapper Transformer Step.xml
-/server/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/consoleconnectorstatus
-/server/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/Console Connector Status Monitor Plugin.xml
-/server/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/extendedhl7vocab
-/server/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/Extended HL7 Vocabulary.xml
-/server/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/Sample Dashboard Column Plugin.xml
-/server/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/ExtensionParser.xml
-/server/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/ExtensionRepositoryParser.java
+/server/src/main/resources/com/mirth/connect/plugins/Graphical Mapper Transformer Step.xml
+/server/src/main/java/com/mirth/connect/plugins/consoleconnectorstatus
+/server/src/main/resources/com/mirth/connect/plugins/Console Connector Status Monitor Plugin.xml
+/server/src/main/java/com/mirth/connect/plugins/extendedhl7vocab
+/server/src/main/resources/com/mirth/connect/plugins/Extended HL7 Vocabulary.xml
+/server/src/main/resources/com/mirth/connect/plugins/Sample Dashboard Column Plugin.xml
+/server/src/main/resources/com/mirth/connect/plugins/ExtensionParser.xml
+/server/src/main/java/com/mirth/connect/plugins/ExtensionRepositoryParser.java
 
 # /server/src/com/mirth/connect/plugins/dashboardstatus/
 
@@ -612,7 +612,7 @@ donkey/donkey-test
 # /server/src/com/mirth/connect/server/
 
 # /server/src/com/mirth/connect/server/builders/
-/server/src/com/mirth/connect/server/builders/VocalEZParser.java
+/server/src/main/java/com/mirth/connect/server/builders/VocalEZParser.java
 
 # /server/src/com/mirth/connect/server/controllers/
 
@@ -635,7 +635,7 @@ donkey/donkey-test
 # /server/src/com/mirth/connect/server/util/javascript/
 
 # /server/src/com/mirth/connect/util/
-/server/src/com/mirth/connect/util/GenerateExtensionUpdate.java
+/server/src/main/java/com/mirth/connect/util/GenerateExtensionUpdate.java
 
 # /server/src/org/
 
@@ -650,3 +650,6 @@ donkey/donkey-test
 # /server/src/org/mozilla/javascript/
 
 # /server/src/org/mozilla/javascript/xmlimpl/
+server/setup.tar.gz
+dependency-check-report.html
+dependency-check-report.json

.sdkmanrc

@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
 # Enable auto-env through the sdkman_auto_env config
 # Add key=value pairs of SDKs to use below
 java=17.0.17.fx-zulu
-ant=1.10.14

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -26,8 +26,45 @@ git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
 ```
 
 ### 5. Install Tooling
-OIE specifies the working versions of Java and Ant in [.sdkmanrc](./.sdkmanrc). To take advantage of this, install [SDKMAN](https://sdkman.io/) and run `sdk env install`
-in the project's root directory.
+OIE specifies the working Java version in [.sdkmanrc](./.sdkmanrc). To take advantage of this, install [SDKMAN](https://sdkman.io/) and run `sdk env install`
+in the project's root directory. No other tooling is required.
+
+### 5a. Build
+The build is driven by Gradle through the included wrapper; no separate Gradle install is needed:
+```bash
+./gradlew build -PdisableSigning=true   # full build without jar signing
+./gradlew test                          # run the unit tests (-Pcoverage=true for JaCoCo)
+./gradlew dist                          # build the distribution extension zips
+```
+On Windows use `gradlew.bat` instead of `./gradlew`. The assembled distribution lands in `server/setup`, the same location the previous Ant build used. For release artifacts, run a clean build: `./gradlew clean build dist`. Windows with SDKMan may generate an error about the file path being too long in the javadoc step, skip this by adding `-x :server:userApiJavadoc` to your Gradle command.
+
+Dependencies are pinned and checksum-verified. To change a dependency version: edit `gradle/libs.versions.toml`, then refresh the checksum metadata **with a cold dependency cache and CI's flags**:
+```bash
+GRADLE_USER_HOME=$(mktemp -d) ./gradlew --write-verification-metadata sha256 build dist -PdisableSigning=true -Pcoverage=true
+```
+The cold cache matters: a warm cache skips re-resolving already-cached parent POMs, so they never get recorded, and the build then fails verification only in CI (this bit us once during the migration). The run downloads everything once and takes a few minutes. Only when adding a **new** artifact that ships in the distribution does `gradle/vendored-layout.json` need a one-line placement entry, and the build fails with a message telling you so.
+
+### Changing build logic
+
+The build's correctness is guarded by output comparison, not by unit
+tests of the build scripts. When you change build logic (staging,
+packaging, jar definitions), confirm the change does not alter the
+product: build `server/setup` before and after, and compare the two
+trees. The [oie-build-parity](https://github.com/pacmano1/oie-build-parity)
+tooling does this at the archive-entry level (and can reproduce the
+original byte-identical comparison against the pre-Gradle Ant baseline).
+Only the changes you intended should appear.
+
+### Run and debug
+
+```bash
+./gradlew :server:createDerbyDb     # one-time: create the embedded database
+./gradlew :server:devRun            # run the server from the development tree
+./gradlew :server:devLauncher       # run the server the way production starts it (from server/setup)
+./gradlew :client:devClient         # run the administrator client against https://localhost:8443
+```
+
+Add `--debug-jvm` to any of these to suspend on JVM start and attach a debugger on port 5005. The JDK module flags come from `server/conf/default_modules.vmoptions`, the same file the production launcher uses. For IDEs, import the repository as a Gradle project (IntelliJ does this natively; Eclipse via Buildship); the old `.classpath`/`.project` files are gone on purpose.
 
 ### 6. Implement your changes
 

Dockerfile

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ FROM ubuntu:noble-20251013 AS builder
 WORKDIR /app
 # sdkman requires bash
 SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-c"]
-ARG ANT_BUILD_ARGS="-DdisableSigning=true"
+ARG GRADLE_BUILD_ARGS="-PdisableSigning=true"
 
 # Stage 1a: Install dependencies
 # Install necessary tools
@@ -26,10 +26,12 @@ RUN apt-get update\
 
 # Stage 1b: Build the application
 # Copy the entire source tree (excluding .dockerignore files), and build
+# (file encoding is pinned to UTF-8 in gradle.properties)
 COPY . .
-WORKDIR /app/server
-RUN source "$HOME/.sdkman/bin/sdkman-init.sh" \
-    && ANT_OPTS="-Dfile.encoding=UTF8" ant -f mirth-build.xml ${ANT_BUILD_ARGS}
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.gradle/caches,sharing=locked \
+    --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.gradle/wrapper,sharing=locked \
+    source "$HOME/.sdkman/bin/sdkman-init.sh" \
+    && ./gradlew --no-daemon build ${GRADLE_BUILD_ARGS}
 
 ##########################################
 #

README.md

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 - [Why Open Integration Engine?](#why-open-integration-engine)
 - [Core Features](#core-features)
 - [Who It’s For](#who-its-for)
+- [Building from Source](#building-from-source)
 - [Project Values](#project-values)
 - [Community and Governance](#community-and-governance)
 - [History and Roadmap](#history-and-roadmap)
@@ -70,6 +71,19 @@ The **Open Integration Engine Project** is an open-source initiative committed t
 
 ---
 
+## Building from Source
+
+The build is driven by Gradle through the committed wrapper; the only prerequisite is JDK 17 (see [.sdkmanrc](.sdkmanrc)):
+
+```bash
+./gradlew build              # full build + tests; distribution lands in server/setup
+./gradlew clean build dist   # release form, plus extension zips in server/dist
+```
+
+On Windows use `gradlew.bat`. See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for the full command reference, the dependency policy, and how to run the server for development.
+
+---
+
 ## Project Values
 
 - **Community-Driven Development** – Innovation through global collaboration