This Bugzilla instance is a read-only archive of historic NetBeans bug reports. To report a bug in NetBeans please follow the project's instructions for reporting issues.
Even though it would be rarely used I do wonder if it wouldn't make sense to add $NB_ROOT/java2/ant/lib/ant.jar as a default entry in the library manager. NetBeans already has a template for setting up a custom Ant task but lacks a default Ant library which can be used. Of course this can be easily solved by manually adding the jar file but I think it would be more logic to have a default entry, considering how Netbeans heavily leans on Ant and ships it by default.
Has been considered but rejected. Probably not very many people are writing their own custom tasks, and we would rather not clutter the Library Manager with default entries unless they are likely be used heavily. If you are writing a task, it is anyway better to add ${ant.core.lib} directly to javac.classpath in project.properties, rather than using the Library Manager - as is documented in a comment in the header of the Ant task template.
Ok, I don't fully agree but do understand your point here. btw; a small comment if I may: adding the library to the project.properties is - according to the docs - the easiest option. Its absolutely not the best since doing it like that interferes with the IDE's fault detection. Since the IDE won't know about the library it will keep on giving errors.
I don't know what you mean by "doing it like that interferes with the IDE's fault detection. Since the IDE won't know about the library it will keep on giving errors" but if you have run into a specific problem please file an issue (perhaps ant/project component in this case) with steps to reproduce.
Thanks for the tip! I'll do so tomorrow.