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Difference between revisions of "A Brief Overview of Building at Eclipse"

(PDE Build)
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PDE Build is The Way to headlessly build Eclipse- and RCP-based products. The [http://help.eclipse.org/ganymede/nav/4_2_0 online documentation] provides a good foundation of knowledge, but does fall short in on some specifics, including the use of [http://wiki.eclipse.org/Pack200 Pack200] and [http://wiki.eclipse.org/JAR_Signing JAR signing] using the Eclipse Foundation's certificate. This document addresses these issues.
 
PDE Build is The Way to headlessly build Eclipse- and RCP-based products. The [http://help.eclipse.org/ganymede/nav/4_2_0 online documentation] provides a good foundation of knowledge, but does fall short in on some specifics, including the use of [http://wiki.eclipse.org/Pack200 Pack200] and [http://wiki.eclipse.org/JAR_Signing JAR signing] using the Eclipse Foundation's certificate. This document addresses these issues.
  
The best currently available guide to PDE Build is still Markus Barchfeld's [http://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-PDE-Automation/automation.html Build and Test Automation for plug-ins and features], though it's getting a bit old (having been written for eclipse-3.0).
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The best currently available guide to PDE Build is still Markus Barchfeld's [http://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-PDE-Automation/automation.html Build and Test Automation for plug-ins and features], though it's getting a bit old (having been written for eclipse-3.0). The Eclipse IDE for Education project's [http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/org.eclipse.soc/ide4edu/org.eclipse.soc.ide4edu.releng/?root=Technology_Project releng project] provides a <em>relatively simple</em> example of how PDE Build can be used to build, Pack 200, sign, and create an update site using the Eclipse Foundation's build server.
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===Build Server===
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Eclipse projects can use the Eclipse Foundation's build server to run automated builds. To gain access to the build server, your project lead should send a note to [mailto:webmaster@eclipse.org the Eclipse Webmaster].
  
 
===Ant===
 
===Ant===

Revision as of 17:24, 3 November 2008

Summary

This page is about building Eclipse- and RCP-based products (including Eclipse itself). This document is focused on using PDE Build directly; work is currently underway to develop a Common Build Infrastructure.

PDE Build

PDE Build is The Way to headlessly build Eclipse- and RCP-based products. The online documentation provides a good foundation of knowledge, but does fall short in on some specifics, including the use of Pack200 and JAR signing using the Eclipse Foundation's certificate. This document addresses these issues.

The best currently available guide to PDE Build is still Markus Barchfeld's Build and Test Automation for plug-ins and features, though it's getting a bit old (having been written for eclipse-3.0). The Eclipse IDE for Education project's releng project provides a relatively simple example of how PDE Build can be used to build, Pack 200, sign, and create an update site using the Eclipse Foundation's build server.

Build Server

Eclipse projects can use the Eclipse Foundation's build server to run automated builds. To gain access to the build server, your project lead should send a note to the Eclipse Webmaster.

Ant

Eclipse itself is built using the PDE build infrastructure that it ships with the Plug-in Development Environment. Ant is used to run the build, with adequate plug-points where in you can perform custom tasks such as instrumentation of code.

To get comfortable with ant:-

http://ant.apache.org/manual - If you are new to ant

Eclipse provides a very usable interface for writing ant files(yes, with auto-complete and the stuff) as well as run the ant files from within the IDE. But, for headless(without UI, from command line) builds, you'll need to use the antRunner application provided by eclipse. For more help, peek into the help documentation of eclipse that you are using.

Plugin Builder plugin

http://www.pluginbuilder.org - Something to make your life even easier

You might get stuck nowhere:-

https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=87151

https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=139481


Versioning

Plugins (including features and fragments) must specify their own versions as well as the versions of their dependencies appropriately.

Information

See the eclipse team's plugin-versioning guidelines. You can also ask Pascal Rapicault or John Arthorne for their "Plug-in versioning" presentation.

Tooling

Pascal Rapicault has created an application (org.eclipse.core.runtime.versionchecker.dependencyChecker) to "specify the ranges on all [your] required plug-ins."

Cross-platform build

Eclipse RCP applications can be cross-built for several platforms using any platform on which eclipse runs. You just need to install the RCP delta pack in your Target Platform. If you dont know what a Target Platform is, then just intall the RCP delta pack in your eclipse installation directory. To download the delta pack as per your platform, visit http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/downloads/. Click the Release version that you are targeting, then search for 'delta'.

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