[jbosstools-issues] [JBoss JIRA] (JBIDE-10915) featureless plugins on target platform cannot be installed by themselves - so build the TP from a feature + site.xml instead of .target file

[Nick Boldt (JIRA)]

    [ https://issues.jboss.org/browse/JBIDE-10915?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=12673619#comment-12673619 ] 

Nick Boldt commented on JBIDE-10915:
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On the contrary. The Target Platform Definition File would list feature(s) like it does today.
But those features would be org.jboss.tools.target.development.feature (SR2), org.jboss.tools.target.minimum.feature (SR1), etc. We could also have separate features which include/exclude sources.

So, we'd still have a TP which can be used in Eclipse (in theory, when that actually works). But we'd gain the option to install everything from the TP into Eclipse, including those pesky Orbit jars like jsch which you find so hard to install. :)

And, we'd be able to specify a range of allowable inclusions in the overall feature(s), which would better document our dependencies' lower/upper limits.

And, since the Feature Manifest Editor in Eclipse *actually works* unlike the Target Platform Definition File Editor, devs and end users could much more easily see what our TP includes. 

This would also open the door for TP inheritance, so we could have subsets and supersets of TPs, which could include upstream ones.

AND the mechanism for building the TP site offline would be much easier -- instead of maven calling ant to generate a p2.mirror script, then running that w/ Ant, we would only need a site.xml (or category.xml) and a pom.xml to build the site w/ pure Tycho.

---

So... more power, simpler implementation, better tooling support, better inheritance options, ... can't see a reason to NOT go this route. 
                
> featureless plugins on target platform cannot be installed by themselves - so build the TP from a feature + site.xml instead of .target file
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: JBIDE-10915
>                 URL: https://issues.jboss.org/browse/JBIDE-10915
>             Project: Tools (JBoss Tools)
>          Issue Type: Bug
>          Components: Build/Releng, openshift, updatesite, UpStream
>    Affects Versions: 3.3.0.Beta1
>            Reporter: Nick Boldt
>            Assignee: Max Rydahl Andersen
>             Fix For: 3.3.0.Beta1
>
>
> Steps to reproduce:
> 1. download and unzip Eclipse JEE bundle (SR1 version or newer). The SR1 version includes this jsch plugin:
> {code}
> com.jcraft.jsch_0.1.41.v201101211617.jar
> {code}
> 2. fire up Eclipse, then Window > Prefs > Install/Update > Available Sites > remove everything shown
> 3. Next, add these two sites:
> * http://download.jboss.org/jbosstools/updates/target-platform_3.3.indigo.SR1-M/latest/ (JBoss Tools latest Target Platform)
> * http://download.jboss.org/jbosstools/builds/staging/_composite_/core/trunk/ (JBoss Tools (Core) latest nightly build)
> 4. Click OK. Help > Install New > select the Core Trunk site (or "All Available Sites").
> 5. in the filter field, type "egit" and select the "JBoss Tools EGit Integration" feature. Click Next. Accept license and restart when prompted.
> 6. Now, in your installation, you'll see:
> {code}
> com.jcraft.jsch_0.1.41.v201101211617.jar
> com.jcraft.jsch_0.1.44.v201101211721.jar
> {code}
> Problem here is that there's no way to install com.jcraft.jsch_0.1.44.v201101211721.jar without installing the component that depends on it. Apparently installing the thing you're about to build w/ PDE (despite the fact that we should all be building w/ m2e/Tycho) is bad even though the version you're about to build will be newer and therefore replace the installed one when you launch / install to test it.

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