Re: [platform-update-dev] newbie install questions...

["Pat McCarthy" <patmc@xxxxxxxxxx>]

You have described the basic process reasonably well
<Is the first installation basically a file dump of the application
directory structure to the user's hard drive?  And then updates are
initiated from the Eclipse IDE (or from a browser page) and performed
by the Eclipse update plugins?>

As I understand it, the only expected difference is that the base
Eclipse/Workbench install, or unzip as currently packaged by Eclipse.org,
will result in a Workbench that understands itself.  That is, it can
service the plug-ins contained in the Workbench base platform.

As for building your own installation - you can do this with a file system
image as well as a running server.  I've played with a simple demo of this
function, using the 2-14 milestone, and have added function to an Eclipse
Workbench.

Note - I've not been able to do the same yet using the 3-21 milestone code.
It can't read the same files that 2-14 reads, but this new milestone has
progressed a bit with respect to the use of the PDE to create a feature
(writes the feature.xml), but I've not yet managed to get a jar file
generated for the feature.

How I see it right now: the site.xml identifies features, the features
identify plugins, and so when you find a feature in the site to install,
you add the identified plugins to your install.  These are written to a
directory you specify, and the active configuration is updated to include
them next time you start the workbench.

My config after running the demo I was provided:
   # Tue Mar 26 12:31:52 EST 2002
   version=1.0

   stamp=1016343246744
   stamp.features=0
   stamp.plugins=1016343246744

   site.0.url=file:/E:/Eclipse-stable-02-14/Installed_Features/FT1/
   site.0.stamp=-1016922812635
   site.0.stamp.features=0
   site.0.stamp.plugins=1016230208215
   site.0.updateable=true
   site.0.policy=USER-EXCLUDE

   site.1.url=platform:/base/
   site.1.stamp=-607006677
   site.1.stamp.features=0
   site.1.stamp.plugins=1053644111
   site.1.updateable=true
   site.1.policy=USER-EXCLUDE
   eof=eof

My goal now is to get a launch point that allows me to point at an existing
Workbench install using a config that says something like:

   site.0.url=file:/E:/Eclipse-stable-02-14/Installed_Features/FT1/
   site.0.stamp=-1016922812635
   site.0.stamp.features=0
   site.0.stamp.plugins=1016230208215
   site.0.updateable=true
   site.0.policy=USER-EXCLUDE

   site.1.url=file:/E:/Eclipse-stable-02-14/Launch/eclipse/
   site.1.stamp=-607006677
   site.1.stamp.features=0
   site.1.stamp.plugins=1053644111
   site.1.updateable=true
   site.1.policy=USER-EXCLUDE

Regards,

Pat McCarthy   --   PatMc@xxxxxxxxxx