ABT is given a file, called the recipe (filename is abt-recipe.xml), that describes how the files that make up the project are related (how they are dependent upon one another) and how to update (build) those files. ABT checks the dates on the files to see if any need to be updated (when a target is older than one of its sources). If there are files that need to be updated, ABT executes the rule actions specified in the recipe for that purpose.

ABT have also testing features that permit you to check if binaries you need to build your sources are present on the installation system. This checking phase is cached. Command execution are OS dependant so you can specify commands depending if you are running windows or unix system.

ABT is the perfect tool for fast Jython/Java based application packaging and deployement because it may be integrated in the distribution and boostraped by the Jython interpreter. It's usefull for all kins of project and is not limited to Jython/Java projects.

ABT is pure Python 2.1 written and so is interpretable with Jython.

It includes a basic Makefile2recipe converter helping you migrating from Makefiles.