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<h1>Eclipse Platform Project<br> | |
DRAFT 3.2 Plan</h1> | |
<p>Last revised 13:21 EDT Aug. 5, 2005 (<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> | |
marks interesting changes since the <a href="eclipse_project_plan_3_2_20050214.html">initial | |
draft of Feb. 14, 2005</a>)</p> | |
<p> <i> Please send comments about this draft plan to the </i><a href="mailto:eclipse-dev@eclipse.org">eclipse-dev@eclipse.org</a> | |
<i>developer mailing list.</i></p> | |
<p>This document lays out the feature and API set for the next feature release | |
of the Eclipse Platform after 3.1, designated release 3.2. | |
<ul> | |
<li><a href="#Deliverables">Release deliverables</a></li> | |
<li><a href="#Milestones">Release milestones</a></li> | |
<li><a href="#TargetOperatingEnvironments">Target operating environments</a></li> | |
<li><a href="#Compatibility">Compatibility with previous releases</a></li> | |
<li><a href="#Platform">Eclipse Platform project</a></li> | |
<li><a href="#JDT">Java development tools (JDT) project</a></li> | |
<li><a href="#PDE">Plug-in development environment (PDE) project</a></li> | |
</ul> | |
<p>Plans do not materialize out of nowhere, nor are they entirely static. To ensure | |
the planning process is transparent and open to the entire Eclipse community, | |
we (the Eclipse Platform PMC) post plans in an embryonic form and revise them | |
throughout the release cycle. | |
<p>The first part of the plan deals with the important matters of release | |
deliverables, release milestones, target operating environments, and | |
release-to-release compatibility. These are all things that need to be clear for | |
any release, even if no features were to change. | |
<p>The remainder of the plan consists of plan items for the three projects under | |
the Eclipse Platform top-level project. Each plan item covers a feature or API | |
that is to be added to the Eclipse Platform, or some aspect of the Eclipse Platform | |
that is to be improved. Each plan item has its own entry in the Eclipse bugzilla | |
database, with a title and a concise summary (usually a single paragraph) that | |
explains the work item at a suitably high enough level so that everyone can | |
readily understand what the work item is without having to understand the nitty-gritty | |
detail. | |
<p>Not all plan items represent the same amount of work; some may be quite | |
large, others, quite small. Some plan items may involve work that is localized | |
to a single Platform component; others may involve coordinated changes to | |
several components; other may pervade the entire Platform. Although some plan | |
items are for work that is more pressing that others, the plan items appear in | |
no particular order. | |
<p>With the previous release as the starting point, this is the plan for how we | |
will enhance and improve it. Fixing bugs, improving test coverage, | |
documentation, examples, performance tuning, usability, etc. are considered routine | |
ongoing maintenance activities and are not included in this plan unless they | |
would also involve a significant change to the API or feature set, or involve a | |
significant amount of work. The intent of the plan is to account for all interesting feature work. | |
<p>The current status of each plan item is noted: | |
<ul> | |
<li><b>Committed</b> plan item - A committed plan item is one that we have | |
decided to address for the release.</li> | |
<li><b>Proposed</b> plan item - A proposed plan item is one that we are | |
considering addressing for the release. Although we are actively | |
investigating it, we are not yet in a position to commit to it, or to say | |
that we won't be able to address it. After due consideration, a proposal | |
will either be committed or deferred.</li> | |
<li><b>Deferred</b> plan item - A reasonable proposal that will not make it in | |
to this release for some reason is marked as deferred with a brief note as | |
to why it was deferred. Deferred plan items may resurface as committed plan | |
items at a later point.</li> | |
</ul> | |
<h2><a name="Deliverables"></a>Release deliverables</h2> | |
<p>The release deliverables have the same form as previous releases, namely: | |
<ul> | |
<li>Source code release for Eclipse Platform Project, available as versions | |
tagged "R3_2" in the Eclipse Platform Project <a href="http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/">CVS | |
repository</a>.</li> | |
<li>Eclipse Platform Project SDK (includes runtime binary and SDK for Platform, | |
JDT, and PDE) (downloadable).</li> | |
<li>Eclipse Platform runtime binary and SDK distributions (downloadable).</li> | |
<li>Eclipse RCP runtime binary and SDK distributions (downloadable).</li> | |
<li>JDT runtime binary and SDK distributions (downloadable).</li> | |
<li>PDE runtime binary and SDK distributions (downloadable).</li> | |
<li>Eclipse Platform SDK Examples (downloadable).</li> | |
<li>SWT distribution (downloadable).</li> | |
</ul> | |
<h2><a name="Milestones"></a>Release milestones</h2> | |
<p>Release milestone occurring at roughly 6 week intervals exist to facilitate | |
coarse-grained planning and staging. The milestones are:</p> | |
<ul> | |
<li> Friday Aug. 12, 2005 - Milestone 1 (3.2 M1) - stable build</li> | |
<li> Friday Sep. 23, 2005 - Milestone 2 (3.2 M2) - stable build</li> | |
<li> Friday Nov. 4, 2005 - Milestone 3 (3.2 M3) - stable build</li> | |
<li> Friday Dec. 16, 2005 - Milestone 4 (3.2 M4) - stable build</li> | |
</ul> | |
<p>Additional 2006 milestones will be added later. Our target is to complete 3.2 | |
in 2Q2006. All release deliverables will be available for download as soon as | |
the release has been tested and validated in the target operating configurations | |
listed below.</p> | |
<h2><a name="TargetOperatingEnvironments"></a>Target Operating Environments</h2> | |
<p>In order to remain current, each Eclipse release targets reasonably current | |
versions of the underlying operating environments.</p> | |
<p>Most of the Eclipse Platform SDK is "pure" Java code and has no | |
direct dependence on the underlying operating system. The chief dependence is | |
therefore on the Java Platform itself. The 3.2 release of the Eclipse Platform | |
Project is written and compiled against version 1.5 of the Java Platform APIs | |
(i.e., Java SE 5) , and targeted to run on version 1.5 of the Java Runtime Environment, | |
Standard Edition. Portions of the the Eclipse Platform (including the SWT, | |
OSGi and JDT core plug-ins) are targeted to a wider class of operating environments, | |
requiring their source code to only reference facilities available in earlier Java | |
versions or smaller Java ME profiles [details TBD].</p> | |
<p>There are many different implementations of the Java Platform running atop | |
a variety of operating systems. We focus Eclipse Platform testing on a handful | |
of popular <span class="header">combinations of operating system and Java Platform; | |
these are our <em>reference platforms</em>. Eclipse undoubtedly runs fine in | |
many operating environments beyond the reference platforms we test. However, | |
since we do not systematically test them we cannot vouch for them. Problems | |
encountered when running Eclipse on a non-reference platform that cannot be recreated | |
on any reference platform will be given lower priority than problems with running | |
Eclipse on a reference platform.</span></p> | |
<p>Eclipse Platform SDK 3.2 is tested and validated on the following reference | |
platforms (this list is updated over the course of the release cycle):</p> | |
<table width="821" border="1" summary="Eclipse Reference Platforms"> | |
<tr bgcolor="#CCCCCC"> | |
<th colspan="4"> | |
<div align="center"> | |
<b><font size="+1">Eclipse Reference Platforms</font></b> | |
</div> | |
</th> | |
</tr> | |
<tr> | |
<td width="205"><b>Operating system</b></td> | |
<td width="76"><b>Processor architecture</b></td> | |
<td width="59"><b>Window system</b></td> | |
<td width="453"><b>Java 2 Platform</b></td> | |
</tr> | |
<tr> | |
<td width="205">Microsoft Windows XP</td> | |
<td width="76">Intel x86</td> | |
<td width="59">Win32</td> | |
<td width="453"><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> Sun | |
Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Update 4 for Microsoft Windows</td> | |
</tr> | |
<tr> | |
<td width="205">Microsoft Windows XP</td> | |
<td width="76">Intel x86</td> | |
<td width="59">Win32</td> | |
<td width="453"> <p> <img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> | |
IBM 32-bit SDK for Windows, Java 2 Technology Edition 5.0</p> | |
</td> | |
</tr> | |
<tr> | |
<td width="205" height="22"><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> | |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 4</td> | |
<td width="76">Intel x86</td> | |
<td width="59">GTK</td> | |
<td width="453"><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> Sun | |
Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Update 4 for Linux x86</td> | |
</tr> | |
<tr> | |
<td width="205"><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> Red | |
Hat Enterprise Linux WS 4</td> | |
<td width="76">Intel x86</td> | |
<td width="59">GTK</td> | |
<td width="453"><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> IBM | |
32-bit SDK for Linux on Intel architecture, Java 2 Technology Edition 5.0</td> | |
</tr> | |
<tr> | |
<td width="205">SLES 9</td> | |
<td width="76">Intel x86</td> | |
<td width="59">GTK</td> | |
<td width="453"><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> Sun | |
Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Update 4 for Linux x86</td> | |
</tr> | |
<tr> | |
<td width="205">SLES 9</td> | |
<td width="76">Intel x86</td> | |
<td width="59">GTK</td> | |
<td width="453"><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> IBM | |
32-bit SDK for Linux on Intel architecture, Java 2 Technology Edition 5.0</td> | |
</tr> | |
<tr> | |
<td width="205"><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> Sun | |
Solaris 10</td> | |
<td width="76">SPARC</td> | |
<td width="59">Motif</td> | |
<td width="453"><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> Sun | |
Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Update 2 for Solaris SPARC</td> | |
</tr> | |
<tr> | |
<td width="205">HP HP-UX 11i</td> | |
<td width="76">hp9000<br> | |
PA-RISC</td> | |
<td width="59">Motif</td> | |
<td width="453"><p><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> HP-UX | |
JDK for the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition for 5.0 01</p> | |
</td> | |
</tr> | |
<tr> | |
<td width="205" height="21">IBM AIX 5L Version 5.2</td> | |
<td width="76">PowerPC</td> | |
<td width="59">Motif</td> | |
<td width="453"> <p><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> | |
IBM 32-bit SDK for AIX, Java 2 Technology Edition 5.0</p> | |
</td> | |
</tr> | |
<tr> | |
<td width="205"><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> Apple | |
Mac OS X 10.4</td> | |
<td width="76">PowerPC</td> | |
<td width="59">Carbon</td> | |
<td width="453"><img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> Java | |
2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 1 for Tiger</td> | |
</tr> | |
</table> | |
<p>Although untested, the Eclipse Platform should work fine on other OSes that | |
support the same window system. For Win32: Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, and Server | |
2003; SWT HTML viewer requires Internet Explorer 5 (or higher). For GTK on other | |
Linux systems: version 2.2.1 of the GTK+ widget toolkit and associated libraries | |
(GLib, Pango); SWT HTML viewer requires Mozilla 1.4GTK2. For Motif on other | |
Linux systems: Open Motif 2.1 (included); SWT HTML viewer requires Mozilla 1.4GTK2.</p> | |
<p>An early access version of the Eclipse Platform is also available for 64-bit | |
Linux GTK. Testing has been limited to early access 64-bit J2SEs running on | |
x86-64 processors.</p> | |
<p>SWT is also supported on the QNX Neutrino operating system, x86 processor, | |
Photon window system, and IBM J9 VM version 2.0. Eclipse 3.2 on Windows or Linux | |
can be used to cross-develop QNX applications. (Eclipse 3.2 is unavailable on QNX | |
because there is currently no 1.5 J2SE for QNX.)</p> | |
<h4>Internationalization</h4> | |
<p>The Eclipse Platform is designed as the basis for internationalized products. | |
The user interface elements provided by the Eclipse SDK components, including | |
dialogs and error messages, are externalized. The English strings are provided | |
as the default resource bundles.</p> | |
<p>Latin-1 locales are supported by the Eclipse Platform SDK on all of the above | |
operating environments; DBCS locales are supported by the Eclipse Platform SDK | |
on the Windows, GTK, and Motif window systems; BIDI locales are supported by | |
the Eclipse Platform SDK only on Windows operating environments. | |
<p>The Eclipse Platform SDK supports GB 18030 (level 1), the Chinese code page | |
standard, on Windows XP and 2000, and Linux/GTK. | |
<p>German and Japanese locales are tested.</p> | |
<h4>BIDI support</h4> | |
<p>SWT fully supports BIDI on Windows. On Linux GTK, SWT supports entering | |
and displaying BIDI text. Within these limitations, the Eclipse Platform | |
SDK tools are BIDI enabled.</p> | |
<h2><a name="Compatibility"></a>Compatibility with Previous Releases</h2> | |
<h3>Compatibility of Release 3.2 with 3.1</h3> | |
<p>Eclipse 3.2 will be compatible with Eclipse 3.1 (and, hence, with 3.0).</p> | |
<p><b>API Contract Compatibility:</b> Eclipse SDK 3.2 will be upwards contract-compatible | |
with Eclipse SDK 3.1 except in those areas noted in the <a href="http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/~checkout~/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/porting/eclipse_3_2_porting_guide.html" target="_top"><em>Eclipse | |
3.2 Plug-in Migration Guide</em></a>. Programs that use affected APIs and extension | |
points will need to be ported to Eclipse SDK 3.2 APIs. Downward contract compatibility | |
is not supported. There is no guarantee that compliance with Eclipse SDK 3.2 | |
APIs would ensure compliance with Eclipse SDK 3.1 APIs. Refer to <i><a href="http://eclipse.org/eclipse/development/java-api-evolution.html">Evolving | |
Java-based APIs</a></i> for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain | |
contract compatibility.</p> | |
<p><b>Binary (plug-in) Compatibility:</b> Eclipse SDK 3.2 will be upwards binary-compatible | |
with Eclipse SDK 3.1 except in those areas noted in the <a href="http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/~checkout~/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/porting/eclipse_3_2_porting_guide.html" target="_top"><em>Eclipse | |
3.2 Plug-in Migration Guide</em></a>. Downward plug-in compatibility is not | |
supported. Plug-ins for Eclipse SDK 3.2 will not be usable in Eclipse SDK 3.1. | |
Refer to <i><a href="http://eclipse.org/eclipse/development/java-api-evolution.html">Evolving | |
Java-based APIs</a></i> for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain | |
binary compatibility. | |
<p><b>Source Compatibility:</b> Eclipse SDK 3.2 will be upwards source-compatible | |
with Eclipse SDK 3.1 except in the areas noted in the <a href="http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/~checkout~/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/porting/eclipse_3_2_porting_guide.html" target="_top"><em>Eclipse | |
3.2 Plug-in Migration Guide</em></a>. This means that source files written to | |
use Eclipse SDK 3.1 APIs might successfully compile and run against Eclipse | |
SDK 3.2 APIs, although this is not guaranteed. Downward source compatibility | |
is not supported. If source files use new Eclipse SDK APIs, they will not be | |
usable with an earlier version of the Eclipse SDK. | |
<p><b>Workspace Compatibility:</b> Eclipse SDK 3.2 will be upwards workspace-compatible | |
with Eclipse SDK 3.1 unless noted. This means that workspaces and projects created | |
with Eclipse SDK 3.1 or 3.0 can be successfully opened by Eclipse SDK 3.2 and | |
upgraded to a 3.2 workspace. This includes both hidden metadata, which is localized | |
to a particular workspace, as well as metadata files found within a workspace | |
project (e.g., the .project file), which may propagate between workspaces via | |
file copying or team repositories. Individual plug-ins developed for Eclipse | |
SDK 3.2 should provide similar upwards compatibility for their hidden and visible | |
workspace metadata created by earlier versions; 3.2 plug-in developers are responsible | |
for ensuring that their plug-ins recognize 3.1, 3.0, 2.1, and 2.0 metadata and | |
process it appropriately. User interface session state may be discarded when | |
a workspace is upgraded. Downward workspace compatibility is not supported. | |
A workspace created (or opened) by a product based on Eclipse 3.2 will be unusable | |
with a product based an earlier version of Eclipse. Visible metadata files created | |
(or overwritten) by Eclipse 3.2 will generally be unusable with earlier versions | |
of Eclipse. | |
<p><b>Non-compliant usage of API's</b>: All non-API methods and classes, and | |
certainly everything in a package with "internal" in its name, are | |
considered implementation details which may vary between operating environment | |
and are subject to change without notice. Client plug-ins that directly depend | |
on anything other than what is specified in the Eclipse SDK API are inherently | |
unsupportable and receive no guarantees about compatibility within a single | |
release much less with earlier releases. Refer to <i><a href="http://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-API%20use/eclipse-api-usage-rules.html">How | |
to Use the Eclipse API</a></i> for information about how to write compliant | |
plug-ins. | |
<h2>Themes and Priorities</h2> | |
<p>The changes under consideration for the next release of Eclipse Platform, JDT, | |
and PDE will address major themes identified by the Eclipse Requirements Council | |
(Themes and Priorities dated Dec. 15, 2004 - <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/org/councils/20041215EclipseTPFinalDraft.pdf">pdf)</a>. | |
The following are especially germane to this top level project:</p> | |
<ul> | |
<li><strong>Scaling Up</strong> - This refers to the need for Eclipse to deal | |
with development and deployment on a larger and more complex scale. Increasing | |
complexities arise from large development teams distributed in different locations, | |
large source code bases and fragile build environments that have been developed | |
incrementally over time, the dynamic nature of new source code bases and their | |
interaction with configuration management, and build environments involving | |
many different tools and build rules.</li> | |
<li><strong>Enterprise Ready</strong> - Eclipse should be improved to allow | |
it to be better used by large development organizations.</li> | |
<li><strong>Design for Extensibility: Be a Better Platform</strong> - Within | |
the Eclipse community, many development projects are defining new development | |
platforms on top of the Eclipse Platform. The Eclipse Platform must evolve | |
to better support this type of usage, including providing new common infrastructure | |
and abstraction layers needed by upper platforms and adding APIs to expose | |
existing functionality only available internally so that upper platforms can | |
more readily integrate with and reuse what's already there.</li> | |
<li><strong>Simple to Use</strong> - | |
The Eclipse components need to not only provide the features that advanced users demand, | |
but also be something that most users find simple to use.</li> | |
<li><strong>Rich Client Platform</strong> - | |
The Eclipse RCP is a Java-based application framework for the desktop. Building on the | |
Eclipse runtime and the modular plug-in story, it is possible to build applications ranging from | |
command line tools to feature-rich applications that take full advantage of SWT's native | |
platform integration and the many other reusable components.</li> | |
<li><strong>Appealing to the Broader Community</strong> - | |
This theme includes work that grows deeper roots into the various OS-specific communities, | |
spreads Eclipse to additional operating environments, virtual machines, application | |
development and deployment lifecycles, vertical market-specific frameworks and builds | |
bridges to other open source communities.</li> | |
</ul> | |
<p>Each of the 3 projects under the Eclipse Platform top-level project is covered | |
in its own section: </p> | |
<ul> | |
<li><a href="#Platform">Eclipse Platform project</a></li> | |
<li><a href="#JDT">Java development tools (JDT) project</a></li> | |
<li><a href="#PDE">Plug-in development environment (PDE) project</a></li> | |
</ul> | |
<p>For each project, the items listed reflect new features of Eclipse or areas | |
where existing features will be significantly reworked. Each item indicates | |
the components likely affected by that work item (many items involve coordinated | |
changes to several components). Numbers in parentheses link to bugzilla problem | |
reports for that plan item. | |
<h2><a name="Platform">Eclipse Platform project</a></h2> | |
<p>The Eclipse Platform provides the most fundamental building blocks. Plan | |
items reflect new features of the Eclipse Platform, or areas where existing | |
features will be significantly reworked.</p> | |
<h4>Committed Items (Eclipse Platform project)</h4> | |
<blockquote> | |
<p><i>None at this time.</i></p> | |
</blockquote> | |
<h4>Proposed Items (Eclipse Platform project)</h4> | |
<blockquote> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> revived | |
plan item) <strong>Support logical model integration.</strong> The Eclipse | |
Platform supports a strong physical view of projects containing resources | |
(files and folders) in the workspace. However, there are many situations where | |
plug-in developers would prefer to work with a logical model that is appropriate | |
to their domain. Eclipse should ease the task for plug-in developers who want | |
to make logical model-aware plug-ins. To do this, Eclipse should provide more | |
flexible mechanisms for contributing actions on models that do not have a | |
one-to-one mapping to files on the users hard disk. This would, for example, | |
allow a team provider's repository operations to be made available on logical | |
artifacts. In addition, existing views like the navigator and problems view | |
should be generalized to handle logical artifacts and, in general, there should | |
be better control over what is displayed in views and editors based on the | |
logical models that the end user is working on. [Platform Core, UI, Team] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=37723">37723</a>) | |
[Theme: Design for Extensibility]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new plan | |
item) <strong>Provide more flexible workspaces.</strong> Currently in Eclipse | |
there is a direct connection between IResources and files and directories | |
on the local file system. Eclipse should loosen this connection, by abstracting | |
out its dependency on java.io.File, and allowing for alternative implementations. | |
This would enable, for example, uses where the workspace is located on a remote | |
server, or accessed via a non-file-based API, or has a non-trivial mapping | |
between the resources and the physical layout of the files. [Platform Resources, | |
Text] (<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106176">106176</a>) | |
[Theme: Design for Extensibility, Enterprise Ready]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Improve and extend the SWT widget set.</strong> Modern UI design is | |
a constantly moving target. SWT should provide the tools needed to implement | |
first class user interfaces. For example: sort indicators in SWT tables; improved | |
coolbar behavior/appearance; and new controls such as collapsible groups. | |
[SWT] (<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106182">106182</a>) [Theme: Design for | |
Extensibility, Appealing to the Broader Community]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Address new window system capabilities.</strong> SWT's basis in native | |
widgets is one of Eclipse's major strengths. For this to remain true, SWT | |
must continue to grow to encompass new mainstream desktop platforms and new | |
capabilities added to existing platforms. SWT should support Windows Vista, | |
and handle the GB18030-2 Chinese character set where it is supported natively. | |
[SWT] (<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106184">106184</a>) [Theme: Appealing | |
to the Broader Community]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Update Enhancements.</strong> As the number and range of Eclipse | |
plug-ins continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important to have a powerful | |
update/install story. For instance, if more information about an Eclipse install | |
was available earlier, it would be possible to pre-validate that it would | |
be a compatible location to install particular new features and plug-ins. | |
This information could also be used to deal with conflicting contributions. | |
Update should also be improved to reduce the volume of data that is transferred | |
for a given update, and PDE should provide better tools for creating and deploying | |
updates. [Update, Platform Runtime, PDE] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106185">106185</a>) [Theme: Enterprise Ready]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Increase flexibility when building RCP applications.</strong> | |
The Eclipse text editor should better support RCP applications, by making | |
features like the following available to them: annotation presentation and | |
navigation, user assigned colors and fonts, spell checking, folding, | |
quick diff, templates, and file buffers. The Eclipse workbench layout should | |
be further opened up to allow RCP applications to have more control over its | |
presentation. More generally, the dependencies between low level | |
components, such as the extension registry and platform runtime, should be | |
reduced to allow them to be more easily reused. | |
[Platform Text, UI, Runtime] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106187">106187</a>) | |
[Theme: Rich Client Platform]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Give OSGi a first class presence on eclipse.org.</strong> Eclipse is | |
based on an efficient, highly scalable OSGi implementation, which has always | |
been usable as a standalone component. OSGi should have a first class presence | |
on eclipse.org, including making it easy for developers to reuse the Eclipse | |
OSGi implementation in their own applications. To support this, a separate | |
OSGi download should be provided, as is done for SWT. [Platform Core] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106188">106188</a>) [Theme: Appealing to the Broader Community, Rich Client | |
Platform]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Provide a more customizable UI.</strong> Products often need direct | |
control over the presence and arrangement of UI elements. Similarly, end users | |
expect to be able to customize the UI to better match their workflow. Eclipse | |
should enable both products and end users to have more control over the user | |
interface. For example, better control over the presence and ordering of menu | |
and toolbar items should be provided. Similarly, the workbench layout should | |
be made more flexible and configurable. [Platform UI] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106189">106189</a>) [Theme: Simple to Use]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> revived) | |
<strong>Capabilities/Perspectives/Components.</strong> The UI component has | |
several frameworks for customizing the presentation, filtering the set of | |
available options and supporting task-based UIs tailored to the user's role. | |
This support should be simplified and made more flexible. [Platform UI] (<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=80130">80130</a>) | |
[Theme: Simple to Use]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Provide more support for large scale workspaces.</strong> In some | |
situations, users have workspaces containing hundreds of projects and hundreds | |
of thousands of files. Scoped builds and working sets have become important | |
tools for these users, and the performance optimizations done in Eclipse 3.1 | |
have proven helpful. Eclipse should have even more support for dealing with | |
very large workspaces, including improved searching, filtering, working sets, | |
and bookmarks. This goes hand-in-hand with ongoing work to discover and address | |
performance issues. [Platform UI, Resources] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106192">106192</a>) [Theme: Scaling Up, Enterprise Ready]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Improve | |
serviceability.</strong> When an end user encounters a problem with Eclipse, | |
it is important for support teams to be able to diagnose the root cause of | |
the failure, and identify the failing plug-in. Eclipse should have enhanced | |
error reporting tools that make it easy for end users to report problems. | |
Tools should be available at all times, so that knowledgeable users could | |
diagnose unexpected behavior such as slowdowns or exceptional memory use. | |
[Platform Runtime, UI, SWT] (<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106193">106193</a>) | |
[Theme: Simple to Use, Enterprise Ready]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> revived) | |
<strong>Embedding editors and views.</strong> Various problems are encountered | |
when trying to embed editors or views within other workbench parts. For example, | |
the current compare infrastructure requires creating a separate text editor | |
for viewing changes between files. This is due to a limitation in the workbench | |
that prevents editors from being embedded inside views or other controls. | |
As a consequence, the compare editor's nested editors don't support the full | |
set of features provided by the corresponding real content-type-specific editor. | |
This represents a major usability problem: the user must switch to the real | |
editor to make changes and then return to the compare view to review the changes. | |
Eclipse should be more flexible in the ways various editors can be used and | |
reused. The UI component model should be improved to support nesting of workbench | |
parts, and reduce the coupling of parts to particular locations in the workbench, | |
allowing for more flexible UI configurations. [Platform UI, Compare, Platform | |
Text] (<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=71125">71125</a>) | |
[Theme: Design for Extensibility] | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Enhance the text editor.</strong> The Eclipse Text component provides | |
a powerful editing framework that is useful in many contexts, but some of | |
its capabilities are currently only available in the Java editor. The Java | |
editor should be opened up to allow more general access to the reconciling, | |
code assist, and template proposal mechanisms. Other enhancements to the look | |
and feel of the editor should also be considered in areas such as the Find/Replace | |
dialog, showing change history and comments in the editor, and annotation | |
roll-overs. [Platform Text] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106194">106194</a>) | |
[Theme: Design for Extensibility] | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Improve cheat sheet support.</strong> | |
The Eclipse cheat sheet infrastructure was implemented 3.0, | |
but is still not widely used. For cheat sheets to be become | |
more widely adopted, the base support should be | |
enhanced in several ways, including: allowing cheat sheets to be | |
authored by non-developers (i.e. creating steps and registering a cheat | |
sheet with no programming); defining and using new automation APIs | |
to allow UI parts like dialogs and wizards to be opened and filled in; | |
and reworking the implementation to support a single content delivery | |
mechanism. | |
[Help, UI] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106196">106196</a>) | |
[Theme: Simple to Use, Design for Extensibility]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Provide pervasive user-assistance search capabilities.</strong> An | |
important element of the user-assistance support in Eclipse is the federated | |
help search support that was added in R3.1. This support should be expanded | |
to pull in more useful results from various sources. It should also be made | |
more extensible to assist other information contributors, and made more pervasive | |
in the UI. [Help, UI] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106198">106198</a>) | |
[Theme: Simple to Use]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Improve task assistance in text fields.</strong> | |
Eclipse has numerous wizards and dialogs that contain text fields | |
where there are constraints on the values that can be entered, and often | |
task assistance can be provided, for example, in the form of potential values. | |
Eclipse should provide an enhanced text field that has indicators for | |
required fields, and content assist. | |
[Help, UI] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106199">106199</a>) | |
[Theme: Simple to Use]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Provide a single user-assistance content delivery mechanism.</strong> | |
In Eclipse 3.1, three different user-assistance vehicles are | |
used to help users in various contexts: | |
the initial user experience shows the 'Welcome' content; | |
cheat sheets assist during long tasks; Help shows the traditional help | |
topics. These vehicles use similar concepts but have separate/duplicate | |
code bases. They should be reworked so that a single content delivery | |
mechanism is used in various contexts, allowing content producers to | |
benefit from a single way of contributing content, making all the | |
content searchable, and making it presentable in various contexts. This | |
should also take into account whether content is local or remote. | |
[Help] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106200">106200</a>) | |
[Theme: Design for Extensibility]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Separate information content from presentation.</strong> | |
In previous releases, Eclipse Help manipulated content as a reference. | |
Although the representation is simple and reliable, it is difficult to | |
tailor the content for multiple presentations, or to provide incremental | |
content contributions, content reuse, content filtering etc. | |
The representation for help content should be improved. | |
Also, branding information should be separated from the rest of the content | |
to simplify aggregating multiple contributions into larger units. | |
[Help, UI, Core, Install/Update] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106201">106201</a>) | |
[Theme: Design for Extensibility]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Improve UI Forms.</strong> | |
UI Forms are increasingly being used in the Eclipse user interface. | |
The UI Form support should be improved to allow for more pervasive use | |
in 3.2. Critical widget functionality should be moved to SWT | |
to ensure quality and native look and feel. The remaining UI Forms code | |
(minus FormEditor) should be pushed down into JFace so that it is available | |
in the Eclipse workbench. | |
[SWT, UI, Help] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106203">106203</a>) | |
[Theme: Simple to Use, Design for Extensibility]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Enhance the debug platform.</strong> The debug support in Eclipse | |
is increasingly being used in areas that require more flexible mechanisms | |
than those required by simple Java programs. Potential work areas include: | |
the integration of flow control, async/cancellation into debug APIs; update | |
policies in debug views (i.e. ensure view updates before proceeding vs. let | |
debugger go as fast as it can and let the views catch up); a flexible debug | |
model element hierarchy to account for different architectures such as multi-core | |
processors, thousands of threads, etc; and introduction of table trees in | |
standard debug views for better/flexible presentation. [Debug] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106205">106205</a>) | |
[Theme: Design for Extensibility, Enterprise Ready]</p> | |
</blockquote> | |
<h4>Deferred Items (Eclipse Platform project)</h4> | |
<blockquote> | |
<p><i>None at this time.</i></p> | |
</blockquote> | |
<p>(End of items for Eclipse Platform project.)</p> | |
<h2><a name="JDT">Java development tools (JDT) project</a></h2> | |
<p><a href="http://www.eclipse.org/jdt/index.html">Java development tools</a> (JDT) | |
implements a Java IDE based on the Eclipse Platform. The following work items | |
reflect new features of JDT, or areas where existing features will be | |
significantly reworked.</p> | |
<h4>Committed Items (Eclipse JDT project,)</h4> | |
<blockquote> | |
<p><i>None at this time.</i></p> | |
</blockquote> | |
<h4>Proposed Items (Eclipse JDT project)</h4> | |
<blockquote> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Add support for Java SE 6 features.</strong> | |
Java SE 6 (aka "Mustang") will likely contain improvements to javadoc tags | |
(like @category), classfile specification updates, pluggable annotation | |
processing APIs, and new compiler APIs, all of which will require specific | |
support. | |
[JDT Core, JDT UI, JDT Text, JDT Debug] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106206">106206</a>) | |
[Theme: Appealing to the Broader Community]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Improve refactoring.</strong> Refactoring currently relies on a closed | |
world assumption. This means that all of the code to be refactored must be | |
available in the workspace when the refactoring is triggered. However for | |
large distributed teams, the closed world approach isn't really feasible. | |
The same is true for clients which use binary versions of libraries where | |
API changes from one version to another. In 3.2 the closed world assumptions | |
will be relaxed in such a way that a refactoring executed in workspace A can | |
be "reapplied" on workspace B to refactor any remaining references to the | |
refactored element. Furthermore, existing refactorings will be improved to | |
preserve API compatibility where possible (for example when renaming a method, | |
a deprecated stub with the old signature will be generated that forwards to | |
the new method). [JDT Core/UI] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106207">106207</a>) | |
[Theme: Scaling Up].</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> revived) | |
<strong>Implement library projects.</strong> For plug-in development, PDE | |
distinguishes between the plug-in projects you are working on (source plug-in | |
projects) and plug-in projects you are working with but not actually changing | |
(binary plug-in projects). Making this distinction affords the user the benefits | |
of having full source for everything in their workspace where it's easily | |
browsed and searched, while permitting economies because the latter kind of | |
projects do not actually have to be (re)compiled. This work item is to support | |
a similar notion of library project for Java development in general. The user | |
should be able to flag a Java project as a library project; JDT would then | |
know how to present library projects appropriately at the UI, and how to deal | |
with them more efficiently using generated binaries. [JDT Core, JDT UI, PDE] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=80162">80162</a>) | |
[Theme: Design for Extensibility]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Improve | |
NLS tooling.</strong> The Eclipse NLS tooling should better support the the | |
new Eclipse string externalization pattern added in 3.1, along with ways to | |
help developers with unused keys and unused property file entries. [JDT Text] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106210">106210</a>) | |
[Theme: Simple to use, Scaling up]</p> | |
</blockquote> | |
<h4>Deferred Items (Eclipse JDT project)</h4> | |
<blockquote> | |
<p><i>None at this time.</i></p> | |
</blockquote> | |
<p>(End of items for Eclipse JDT project.) | |
<h2><a name="PDE">Plug-in development environment (PDE) project</a></h2> | |
The <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/pde/index.html">plug-in development | |
environment</a> (PDE) consists of tools for developing plug-ins for the | |
Eclipse Platform. The following work items reflect new features of PDE, or areas | |
where existing features will be significantly reworked. | |
<h4>Committed Items (Eclipse PDE project)</h4> | |
<blockquote> | |
<p><i>None at this time.</i></p> | |
</blockquote> | |
<h4>Proposed Items (Eclipse PDE project)</h4> | |
<blockquote> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Improve target support.</strong> | |
PDE manages a model of the target Eclipse for which you are | |
developing. Targets may be complex and diverse, and | |
switching targets or launch configurations can be expensive. | |
PDE should be extended to support named targets and automatically | |
track changes to the workspace. | |
[PDE, Core] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106211">106211</a>) | |
[Theme: Simple to Use, Enterprise Ready]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>New source lookup for debugging Eclipse applications.</strong> The | |
default source lookup mechanism for debugging Java applications has scalability | |
issues since the debugger may needing to scan a list of hundreds of plug-in | |
projects each time it look up a source file. PDE should provide its own source | |
path computer to which the debugger can delegate the task of locating source | |
files. In addition to faster lookups, the PDE-based approach will be better | |
positioned to handle duplicate source files on the same source path. It would | |
also allow the user to easily debug plug-ins against different targets without | |
having to change the Target Platform in the preferences. [PDE, Debug, Core] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106212">106212</a>) | |
[Theme: Scaling Up]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>API-aware tools.</strong> Given the importance that the Eclipse community | |
places on stable, robust APIs, having good support for their implementation | |
is critical. The support within Eclipse for describing APIs should be improved, | |
along with better tools from assisting developers to stick to APIs provided | |
by other plug-ins. [PDE, JDT] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106213">106213</a>) | |
[Theme: Enterprise Ready]</p> | |
<p>(<img border="0" src="new.gif" alt="(new)" width="12" height="12"> new) <strong>Improve PDE build.</strong> PDE Build is fundamental to how the Eclipse | |
Platform releases are produced. It is also increasingly being used by other | |
Eclipse projects and in the wider community. Potential improvements to PDE | |
build include parallel cross-building, incremental building of plug-ins, increased | |
integration with the workspace model, and support for additional repository | |
providers. [PDE] | |
(<a href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=106214">106214</a>) | |
106214[Theme: Enterprise Ready]</p> | |
</blockquote> | |
<h4>Deferred Items (Eclipse PDE project)</h4> | |
<blockquote> | |
<p><i>None at this time.</i></p> | |
</blockquote> | |
<h4>(End of items for Eclipse PDE project.)</h4> | |
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