[pde-build-dev] PDE builds and linked jar dependencies

["Graham Leggett" <minfrin@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

I have been trying to get an eclipse plugin to build using PDE, and have
been trying to get this eclipse plugin to have its dependencies managed by
the maven-eclipse-plugin.

The maven-eclipse-plugin sets the dependencies up by adding them as linked
entries inside the .project file like this:

  <linkedResources>
    <link>
      <name>abbot-0.13.0.jar</name>
      <type>1</type>
      <location>C:/[path]/.m2/repository/abbot/abbot/0.13.0/abbot-0.13.0.jar</location>
    </link>
    ...

When the eclipse IDE tries to build the code, the build works fine, all
dependencies are resolved, and the plugin can be fired up in debug mode
without a problem.

However: If an attempt is made to export the plugin, the resultant plugin
directory does not contain any of the dependenct jar files, and the PDE
builds fails with compile errors about missing packages, caused by the
missing dependencies.

I am trying to figure out what the "right" way to handle dependencies in a
PDE build is.

Do linked resources work from PDE? Is there some other technique that
should be used to handle dependencies instead of linked resources instead?

Regards,
Graham
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