Using the build toolkit from non-Ant builds

I would like to communicate status, publish results, etc. from my command-line based build. The only interface I'm aware of that I can use at build time to communicate with the repo. is the Ant-based build toolkit. This necessitates installing Ant even though I wouldn't otherwise need or use it. It's also very hacky for things like <startBuildActivity> where you need to capture the output of the task for later use.

Is there some other way to do the same things that the build toolkit does but in a way that doesn't require Ant? If not I would like to request that something along these lines be added: either standalone programs (preferred) or extensions to the SCM command line.