[p2-dev] Need help with understanding and using p2 director application

[Nayna Jain <jainnayna@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everybody,

I have some doubts related to creating portable installations using
p2.director application. I wanted an installation which can be zipped and
then unzipped anywhere.

The steps which I had done till now are as follows :

#1.. Unzip the eclipse SDK
#2.. Run the p2.director application using existing installed eclipse on my
system and and install the cdt in the unzipped SDK directory as the
destination.
Command is as below :
$InstallPath/eclipse -vm $vm -nosplash -data $workspace -consolelog -clean \
-application org.eclipse.equinox.p2.director
-metadataRepository http://downloads.eclipse.org/releases/galileo \
-artifactRepository http://downloads.eclipse.org/releases/galileo \
-installIU org.eclipse.cdt.feature.group \
-destination $eclipseroot/eclipse \
-profile SDKProfile \
-profileProperties roaming=true \
-p2.os linux -p2.ws gtk -p2.arch x86 -vmargs -Xms128M -Xmx 256M
-XX:Permsize=128M -XX:MaxPermSize=256M

After running this application the feature cdt gets installed.

Now in this eclipse installation, I have the directory structure as below :
eclipse/
         p2 /
                     org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core/
                     org.eclipse.equinox.p2.engine/
                                                      profileRegistry/
                                                                  SDKProfile.profile/
                                                                                xxxxxxxx.profile
                                                      .settings/
                                                                  org.eclipse.equinox.p2.artifact.repostiory.prefs,
                                                                  org.eclipse.equinox.p2.metadata.repository.prefs
                     org.eclipse.equinox.p2.repository

After doing the installation, I found the hard coded paths of my installation in the xxxxx.profile files and also in the artifact/metadata
repository files.. Even installFolder path is hardcoded.

I tried understanding p2 engine, p2.inf file and touchpoints but couldn't get much.

I have the following doubts :

1. What is the use of the profile and .settings directory ? What is the use of these files ? And how the values in these files are used.
2. I have read that -roaming flag makes the installation portable.. But not sure then why am I getting these hard coded paths here.
3. I have read that these are created by p2 engine during various phases  of configure, install, uninstall etc.. then how do I tell engine in command line that not to add these hard coded paths
4. what is p2.inf file ? When and how it should be created and used ? Where is it useful ?
5. What is the meaning of touchpoints ? How touchpoints instructions are used ? How can these be helpful to create portable install ?

Can someone please help me out with this ?

Thanks & Regards,
Nayna Jain


-- 
Don't believe the fear, uncertainity and doubts from people that have never tried it.