[pde-dev] Refactoring PDE

[Jeff McAffer <Jeff_McAffer@xxxxxxxxxx>]

There was some discussion recently in
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=200565 about splitting out
the XML text editing infrastructure and other such refactorings.  This
coincided with the 3.4 plan calling for the addition of API tooling and
Provisioning (p2) tooling to the PDE scope as well as the progressive relegation
of Update Manager tooling as Update manager is replaced with p2.  These
events sparked an observation that we should consider "refactoring"
the PDE project structure.  

Technically speaking the PDE project
has only two real components, UI and Build.  In actual fact with the
new work, it has half a dozen (Bundle tooling, releng/build infrastructure,
UA tools, Update tools, API tooling and p2 tooling) related but distinct
functional directions.   So the question:  Why not create project
components for each of these functional areas?  And following some
of the points in bug 200565 proceed to, over time, refactor some of the
code to supply distinct bundles for the different functional areas.

Benefits
- support a more diverse range of configurations
(e.g., p2 tooling ought not drag in UA tooling or Update tooling!)
- clarity of the fact that PDE is tooling
distinctly different function
- fight the "waddiness wave"
that will crash over PDE as we add more and more diverse capabilities
- reify some of the informal structure/organization
that exists today
- a step towards satisfying people who
ask for access to underlying parts of PDE

Drawbacks
- a few of the new components would
be small and somewhat inactive
- increases the apparent complexity
by surfacing that there really are all these different parts of PDE
- this is more work.  We'd have
to develop real or psuedo-api as pieces are teased apart or added on. (this
is likely inevitable)


Jeff