NAnt is used to create an automated build process for your project

When there are large number of developers working on the same project, and if you are opting for a daily builds of the project, you cannot rely on building by a single user. You need a tool to handle it. NAnt is an open source tool that helps you create a build of the project very easily. In the current version, NAnt is a console application.

Visual Studio.Net 2003 is unable to handle dependencies between projects very well and hence NAnt cannot be built using VS.Net 2003. Microsoft, however, had made the necessary modifications with VS.Net 2005 Beta, and NAnt can be used directly to build applications. However, you can compile NAnt using the NAnt build scripts, and then debug NAnt using VS.Net. To do this, open the NAnt solution file in VS.Net and change the following debugging properties of NAnt.Console project ( using Project -> properties ->Configuration Properties -> Debugging)

1. Debug Mode : Program
2. Start Application: Select NAnt.exe that you just compiled

Then you can use NAnt to build your project. NAnt has originated from the Apache Ant Project, and is derived out of a code base which had put together thousands of nightly builds in the past years.