I would like to automatically convert between tabs and spaces for indentation when I commit/update code to/from our repository. I have found the AnyEdit plugin for eclipse, which can convert directories of files. Not bad for a start, but does anybody have more expierience on how to handle this? Or maybe know of an Ant script or something else?
Why not just use the code formatter and/or cleanup function? It has settings that take care of that stuff for you. You can even have it run automatically on save.
Edit: As Peter Perháč points out in the comments, this only answers half the question. I don't have any practical experience, but you could try the Maven Eclipse Format Plugin to format from a Maven build.
Unfortunately, that's Maven only, and I know of no light-weight command line formatter. But if you happen to use Maven, you can bind the format goal to the proper phase, and if you set Eclipse to auto-build, it would format on update.
Depending on the SCM tool (git, svn, etc), you could also create a hook that runs the build (but it might be a bit too heavy-weight for that).
You may lose alignment/formatting by using tabs instead of spaces if and only if the tabs are not at the beginning of the line. Never use tabs insides lines, always use tabs at the front of lines. This allows you to use your editor to adjust to your desired indent level without impacting your co-workers view of the file. Challenge: Find an example where tabs at the front of the line loses alignment.