The build tool now supports (minimalistic) shell mode, started using ./build.sh -

h2/src/docsrc/html/build.html

@@ -88,10 +88,13 @@ You will get a list of targets. If you want to build the <code>jar</code> file,
 <pre>
 build jar
 </pre>
+<p>
+To run the build tool in shell mode, use the command line option <code>-</code> as in <code>./build.sh -</code>.
+</p>
 
 <h3>Switching the Source Code</h3>
 <p>
-By default the source code uses Java 1.5 features, however Java 1.6 is supported as well.
+By default the source code uses Java 1.6 features, however Java 1.5 is supported as well.
 To switch the source code to the installed version of Java, run:
 </p>
 <pre>

h2/src/tools/org/h2/build/BuildBase.java

@@ -8,12 +8,14 @@ package org.h2.build;
 
 import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
 import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.FilterOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.io.RandomAccessFile;
@@ -169,6 +171,9 @@ public class BuildBase {
             for (String a : args) {
                 if ("-quiet".equals(a)) {
                     quiet = true;
+                } else if (a.startsWith("-")) {
+                    runShell();
+                    return;
                 } else if (a.startsWith("-D")) {
                     String value;
                     String key = a.substring(2);
@@ -181,20 +186,54 @@ public class BuildBase {
                     }
                     System.setProperty(key, value);
                 } else {
+                    if (!runTarget(a)) {
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        println("Done in " + (System.currentTimeMillis() - time) + " ms");
+    }
+
+    private boolean runTarget(String target) {
         Method m = null;
         try {
-                        m = getClass().getMethod(a);
+            m = getClass().getMethod(target);
         } catch (Exception e) {
-                        sysOut.println("Unknown target: " + a);
+            sysOut.println("Unknown target: " + target);
             projectHelp();
-                        break;
+            return false;
         }
-                    println("Target: " + a);
+        println("Target: " + target);
         invoke(m, this, new Object[0]);
+        return true;
     }
+
+    private void runShell() {
+        BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
+        String last = "", line;
+        System.out.println("Shell mode. Type the target, then [Enter]. Just [Enter] repeats the last target.");
+        while (true) {
+            System.out.print("build> ");
+            try {
+                line = reader.readLine();
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            }
+            if (line.length() == 0) {
+                line = last;
+            } else if (line.equals("exit") || line.equals("quit")) {
+                break;
             }
+            long time = System.currentTimeMillis();
+            try {
+                runTarget(line);
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                System.out.println(e);
             }
             println("Done in " + (System.currentTimeMillis() - time) + " ms");
+            last = line;
+        }
     }
 
     private Object invoke(Method m, Object instance, Object[] args) {