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| <H2> |
| Provisioning platform (p2)</H2> |
| <p> |
| Installation and updates are managed in Eclipse using a provisioning |
| platform called p2. Fundamentally, p2 is a technology for provisioning and |
| managing Eclipse- and Equinox-based applications. You can use p2 to install |
| or manage any aspect of your application, from the physical plug-ins and native |
| code, to the configuration of the installed software - file permissions, command line arguments, etc. |
| Installation with p2 does not consist simply in adding or removing files in the |
| file system, but more generally the sequence of events that must occur to lay |
| down and configure a system that is ready to run. Core aspects of p2 include:</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>Automatic resolution of dependencies between software components. With p2, |
| you state the root set of items you want installed or uninstalled, and p2 computes |
| the complete set of required system changes automatically.</li> |
| <li>Transport of software components and configuration data from remote |
| repositories to the system being installed. p2 includes sophisticated algorithms for |
| performing multi-threaded transfers, including support for mirrors and automatic |
| re-balancing of transfers based on network state (availability, throughput). </li> |
| <li>An extensible mechanism for "teaching" p2 how to install and configure various |
| kinds of software. By default p2 knows how to install and configure Eclipse plug-ins, |
| and basic native integration such as adding/removing files, setting permissions, |
| and creating symbolic links.</li> |
| <li>A graphical user interface integrated into the Eclipse platform, to allow |
| end users to examine and manage the application.</li> |
| <li>A suite of command line tools and Ant tasks, to allow developers and release |
| engineers to build and configure p2-enabled applications.</li> |
| </ul> |
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| <p> |
| The following documentation sections describe how to use p2 to build and deliver |
| your own Eclipse-based applications and extensions.</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li><a href="p2_metadata.html">Metadata management</a></li> |
| <li><a href="p2_director.html">Installation management</a></li> |
| <li><a href="p2_repositorytasks.htm">Repository management</a></li> |
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