How to use exec() output in gradle

I am trying to implement a gradle task to dynamically create a buildsignature.properties file from a series of environment variable values and shell executions. I have it mostly working, but I can't seem to get the output of the shell commands. Here's my task...

task generateBuildSignature << {
    ext.whoami = exec() {
        executable = "whoami"
    }
    ext.hostname = exec() {
         executable = "hostname"
    }
    ext.buildTag = System.env.BUILD_TAG ?: "dev"

    ant.propertyfile(
        file: "${buildDir}/buildsignature.properties",
        comment: "This file is automatically generated - DO NOT EDIT!" ) {
        entry( key: "version", value: "${project.version}" )
        entry( key: "buildTimestamp", value: "${new Date().format('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss z')}" )
        entry( key: "buildUser", value: "${ext.whoami}" )
        entry( key: "buildSystem", value: "${ext.hostname}" )
        entry( key: "buildTag", value: "$ext.buildTag" )
    }
}

But the resulting properties field does not get the desired results for buildUser and buildSystem.

#This file is automatically generated - DO NOT EDIT!
#Mon, 18 Jun 2012 18:14:14 -0700
version=1.1.0
buildTimestamp=2012-06-18 18\:14\:14 PDT
buildUser=org.gradle.process.internal.DefaultExecHandle$ExecResultImpl@2e6a54f9
buildSystem=org.gradle.process.internal.DefaultExecHandle$ExecResultImpl@46f0bf3d
buildTag=dev

How do I get buildUser and buildSystem to match the output of the corresponding exec rather than some default ExecResultImpl toString? This really can't be that hard, can it?

Solution

This post describes how to parse the output from an Exec invocation. Below you'll find two tasks that run your commands.

task setWhoamiProperty {
    doLast {
        new ByteArrayOutputStream().withStream { os ->
            def result = exec {
                executable = 'whoami'
                standardOutput = os
            }
            ext.whoami = os.toString()
        }
    }
}

task setHostnameProperty {
    doLast {
        new ByteArrayOutputStream().withStream { os ->
            def result = exec {
                executable = 'hostname'
                standardOutput = os
            }
            ext.hostname = os.toString()
        }
    }
}

task printBuildInfo {
    dependsOn setWhoamiProperty, setHostnameProperty
    doLast {
         println whoami
         println hostname
    }
}

There's actually an easier way to get this information without having to invoke a shell command.

Currently logged in user: System.getProperty('user.name')

Hostname: InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName()