[pde-dev] Comparing successive versions of Arbitrary JAR's using API Too

[P Kapur <pkapur@xxxxxxxxx>]

Problem/Issue: I want to use the API tooling to compare two versions
of an arbitrary jar (e.g. JDOM-beta8 and JDOM1.0) which I know have
binary compatibility issues. At present the API Tooling (seems?) to a)
only work for plugins listed in the /plugins directory of a given
Eclipse installation and b) even in that case some plugins are
excluded from analysis.

Accordingly I have tried to a) install the jars of interest (e.g.
jdom-beta8 and jdom1.0) as eclipse plugins (without success, details
below) and b) remain unsure why some plugins are exlcluded from
analysis but have made liberal use of the PDE Tools > API Tooling
Setup > enable API tooling option.

Answers would be welcome on:
a) if it is even possible to compare successive versions of Arbitrary
JAR's using API Tooling?
b) if the scenario/steps provided below are a step in the right
direction or some other steps are required?
c) what determines if a plugin is/is not included in the analysis
output generated by API Tooling?

Environment:
Windows XP, Eclipse 3.5.1, Java 1.6

Approach (so far):

1. Want to compare jdom-beta8 and jdom1.0

2. Summary: In separate eclipse 3.5.1 instances create plugins from
the jdom-beta8 and jdom1.0 jar and use those plugins as the basis for
a creating a eclipse feature, which is then used to create a local
eclipse update site. The local update site is then used to install the
respective jdom version as eclipse plugins with (i.e. the plugins
appear in the /eclipse/plugins directory) in their respective eclipse
instances.

More specifically:
a) New > Create plugin from existing jar (be sure to enable API
tooling once the plugin is created)
b) New > Create Feature project (using the plugin from step a)
c) New > Create Update Site (using the feature created in step b)
d) Install new software > Local Update Site > (use the update site
created in step c)

3. At the end of the above I have 2 eclipse instance with jdom-beta8
as a plugin in one instance and jdom1.0 as a plugin in the other
instance.

4. Run the API Analysis and task with with eclipse instance containing
jdom-beta8 as the baseline and eclipse instance with jdom1.0 as the
profile.

Results:

API Analysis report succeeds but the jdom plugin is listed under
"Bundles not configured for API Analysis" in the resulting report.

Thanks,
-pkapur