Re: [p2-dev] Improving the way repositories are described

["Pascal Rapicault" <pascal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've reviewed the user stories mentioned in
http://wiki.eclipse.org/Tycho/Split_eclipse_repository_and_product_packaging_types#eclipse-repository_user_stories
and added a note in the bug.

As for the technology, I'm not bound to XText. This all prototype started
because I wanted to play with XText but that's about it :)


On Wed, February 27, 2013 21:47, Igor Fedorenko wrote:
> Better way to define contents of p2 repositories produced during Tycho
> builds is something Tycho developers have considered for some time [1],
> so I am happy to see other teams see this as desired improvement. I
> think p2, pde and tycho should agree on a common "new" repository
> definition format and use the same runtime to parse and manipulate it,
> but I am generally not a big fan of DSL, especially if the
> implementation comes with a very long dependency trail.
>
> I am wondering if it makes more sense to figure out what input
> configuration information we need to capture first, and decide on the
> best format and tools to work with this information after.
>
> [1] https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=348586
>
> --
> Regards,
> Igor
>
> On 2013-02-27 9:15 PM, Pascal Rapicault wrote:
>> What I currently see depends on Xtext which depends on EMF and others
>> things, however I remember reading that it was possible to use this
>> infrastructure outside of equinox, and I do see a generated class called
>> RepoDSLStandaloneSetup with the following comment "Initialization
>> support
>> for running Xtext languages without equinox extension registry".
>>
>> What do you have in mind?
>>
>> On Wed, February 27, 2013 21:05, Igor Fedorenko wrote:
>>> Will the generated parser and model classes work in standalone tools,
>>> like Tycho, or will it require full-blown Eclipse runtime to work?
>>>
>>> --
>>> Regards,
>>> Igor
>>>
>>> On 2013-02-27 8:56 PM, Pascal Rapicault wrote:
>>>> I'm sending this to request feedback on how to better create
>>>> repositories.
>>>> Please direct all feedback, positive or negative to the bug
>>>> http://bugs.eclipse.org/401960. What is below is the description that
>>>> I
>>>> put to the bug.
>>>>
>>>> When it comes to dealing with repositories, p2 offers a lot of
>>>> flexibility
>>>> that is not (or not easily) accessible through the old site.xml or
>>>> category.xml file formats.
>>>> Such things include, associated repositories, mirror URLs, download
>>>> stats
>>>> URL, nested categories, uncategorized content, etc.
>>>>
>>>> In attempt to overcome those limitations, and to learn XText, I
>>>> created
>>>> last summer the attached grammar which provides the basis for a
>>>> repository
>>>> DSL. Put in action, this DSL allows things like the following example,
>>>> which I hope is sufficiently self explanatory:
>>>>
>>>> repoName: "My tools"
>>>> referenceRepo: "http://download.eclipse.org/releases"; as "Juno"
>>>> enabled
>>>> hidden
>>>>
>>>> category: "Tools"
>>>> 	iu:"org.eclipse.code.recomenders",["1.0.0", "2.0.0"]
>>>> 	feature:"org.eclipse.pde"
>>>>
>>>> 	category: "Maven tools"
>>>> 		iu:"org.eclipse.m2e"
>>>> 	end
>>>> end
>>>>
>>>> uncategorizedContent:
>>>> 	feature: "someStuffThatNeedToBeInTheRepo"
>>>> 	iu: "org.eclipse.p2"
>>>> end
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> As you can see the approach is fairly simple, describe what you want
>>>> and
>>>> you are done. In this example, I'm creating a Tools category that
>>>> contains
>>>> Eclipse recommenders, pde and a subcategory for Maven tools. Here I'm
>>>> not
>>>> making use of more advanced functionalities, but I'm sure you see
>>>> where
>>>> this is going.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ** How will people work with this?
>>>> This file will be used to replace site.xml and category.xml. People
>>>> will
>>>> be able to edit it using the Xtext generated editor (which includes
>>>> all
>>>> the bells and whistles an editor needs - (see below on addition
>>>> completion
>>>> for the various IDs)), or alternatively they should be able to edit it
>>>> with a simple text editor or other more automation oriented tools.
>>>>
>>>> ** What is missing?
>>>> Though I'm happy with the way things look, neither the grammar nor the
>>>> editor are production ready, and we don't even have the p2 publisher
>>>> bit
>>>> that turns this DSL into a content.xml.
>>>>
>>>> On the grammar side the following things need to be added:
>>>> - Inclusion mode. This element would allow to describe whether just
>>>> the
>>>> IU, its slice or resolved dependencies should be included in the IU.
>>>> - Edition context. This element which should be located at the top of
>>>> the
>>>> DSL would tell the editor where it can find IDs to propose to the user
>>>> in
>>>> the completion. This could for example include target definitions,
>>>> repos,
>>>> etc. This entry would only be used for edition, but not at generation
>>>> time
>>>> where the context is provided by the build.
>>>> - Stats tracker URL. The URL against which to report download stats.
>>>> - Mirror list. The list of mirrors.
>>>> - More simple format? I'm wondering if a Yaml like format would be
>>>> better
>>>> for ppl gre'ing, etc.
>>>>
>>>> On the editor side, the completion logic needs to be added.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ** Where will the project be hosted?
>>>> Though the  prototype is currently on my personal bitbucket account
>>>> (https://bitbucket.org/prapicault/p2-repo-dsl), this is something that
>>>> belongs to p2 or PDE and will be moved to the Eclipse Foundation once
>>>> there is enough traction around it.
>>>>
>>>> Pascal
> _______________________________________________
> p2-dev mailing list
> p2-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/p2-dev
>