The command ant release generally creates a package name with the format ${ant.project.name}-release.apk. It is quite helpful if we can add the version number and build date into the package name.
You can achieve it by writing custom_rules.xml without touching the ant build.xml file in the folder Android SDK/tools/ant.
Method 1
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="custom_rules">
<tstamp>
<format property="today" pattern="yyyyMMdd" />
</tstamp>
<target name="override-out">
<xpath input="AndroidManifest.xml" expression="/manifest/@android:versionName"
output="manifest.versionName" default="unknown" />
<property name="out.final.file"
location="${out.absolute.dir}/${ant.project.name}-v${manifest.versionName}_${today}.apk" />
</target>
<target name="andmob" depends="override-out, clean, release" />
</project>
Method 2
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="custom_rules">
<tstamp>
<format property="today" pattern="yyyyMMdd" />
</tstamp>
<xmlproperty file="AndroidManifest.xml" prefix="mymanifest" collapseAttributes="true"/>
<target name="-post-build">
<move file="${out.final.file}" tofile="${out.absolute.dir}/${ant.project.name}_v${mymanifest.manifest.android:versionName}_${today}.apk"/>
<echo>Rename the built package name to ${out.absolute.dir}/${ant.project.name}_v${mymanifest.manifest.android:versionName}_${today}.apk</echo>
</target>
</project>
With Method 1, you execute the command ant andmob(which we define this particular target in my example) instead of ant release. In Method 2, we add a rename(move) command in -post-build target, so you can still use the original command ant release.
Assume my project name is "andmob", current version 5.4, the build date 2013/01/11, then the final package name will be andmob-v5.4_20130111.apk
