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

[Darin Wright <Darin_Wright@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> 
> Answers would be welcome on:
> a) if it is even possible to compare successive versions of Arbitrary
> JAR's using API Tooling?

No. Currently, API tooling only works on bundles. See the following 
enhancement request for API tooling on standard Java projects: 
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=255068

> 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?

I was able to create and compare two simple jars by creating bundles from 
the jars and setting up API tooling on the projects. The tools look for an 
".api_description" file in the root of each bundle to identify it as 
configured for API tooling. The description file should be generated 
automatically when you export the bundles. Be sure to export all packages 
that you want to be considered as API for comparison.

> 
> 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)

I just did this for each bundle:

a) New > Create plugin from existing jar
b) Setup API tooling once the plugin is created
c) Export to directory, packaging the bundle as a jar

Then I placed the jar'd bundles in directories like "b1\plugins" and 
"b2\plugins", then I ran the analysis task:

       <apitooling.analysis
                baseline="c:\temp\b1"
                profile="c:\temp\b2"
                report="c:\temp\report"
                debug="true"
        />



Darin Wright