configuration-properties.dita

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<!DOCTYPE reference PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Reference//EN" "reference.dtd">
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<reference id="configuring-the-dita-ot">
  <title>Configuration properties</title>
  <shortdesc>DITA-OT uses <filepath>.properties</filepath> files and internal properties that store configuration
    settings for the toolkit and its plug-ins. Configuration properties are available to both Ant and Java processes,
    but unlike argument properties, they cannot be set at run time.</shortdesc>
  <prolog>
    <metadata>
      <keywords>
        <indexterm>command line
          <indexterm>properties</indexterm></indexterm>
        <indexterm>properties</indexterm>
        <indexterm>Ant
          <indexterm>properties</indexterm></indexterm>
        <indexterm>Java
          <indexterm>properties</indexterm></indexterm>
        <indexterm>Ant
          <indexterm>configuring</indexterm></indexterm>
        <indexterm>Java
          <indexterm>configuring</indexterm></indexterm>
        <indexterm>Ant
          <indexterm>precedence</indexterm></indexterm>
        <indexterm>Java
          <indexterm>precedence</indexterm></indexterm>
        <indexterm><filepath>local.properties file</filepath></indexterm>
      </keywords>
    </metadata>
  </prolog>
  <refbody>
    <section>
      <p>When DITA-OT starts the Ant process, it looks for property values in the following order and locations:</p>
      <ol>
        <li>Any property passed to Ant from the command line with <parmname>-Dproperty</parmname> or
            <parmname>--property</parmname>=<option>value</option></li>
        <li>A custom property file passed with <parmname>--propertyfile</parmname></li>
        <li>A <filepath>local.properties</filepath> file in the root directory of the DITA-OT installation</li>
        <li>The <filepath>lib/org.dita.dost.platform/plugin.properties</filepath> file</li>
        <li>The <filepath>configuration.properties</filepath> file</li>
      </ol>
      <p>If a given property is set in multiple places, the first value “wins” and subsequent entries for the same
        property are ignored.</p>
      <p>You can use this mechanism to override DITA-OT default settings for your environment by passing parameters to
        the <cmdname>dita</cmdname> command with <parmname>--property</parmname>=<option>value</option>, or using
        entries in <filepath>.properties</filepath> files.</p>
    </section>
  </refbody>
</reference>