[news.eclipse.platform] Re: No solution found because the problem in /tm

[John J Barton <johnjbarton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Eric Rizzo wrote:
> First of all, it is not an option for you to be ignorant about 
> dependencies and installation management if you're going to be a plugin 
> publisher. It is just as important as understanding how to use SWT or 
> what to do in your Activator start/stop methods, etc; it goes with the 
> territory.

Thanks Eric, I agree with you in general: developers need to understand 
how there code works in a system. But the tools/approach that eclipse 
uses are too difficult to use.

> Now, if you want to target a particular version of particular plugins 
> (remember, each plugin can be updated and change its version 
> independently), you need to specify that in your plugins' Dependency 

I do *not* want to do this. It's not practical for me or my users. What 
is practical is what we already do: "use ecilpse jee 3.4.0".


Or is the simple answer that I have to build my plugin with exactly the 
version of eclipse that I want users to install?


> list. For each plugin listed as a Dependency, you can (and should) 
> specify a version range that is acceptable. Of course it is not a 
> trivial matter, you have to think about the version ranges you want to 
> allow: too restrictive and your stuff won't be compatible with arbitrary 
> Eclipse instances; too loose and you'll get installed into environments 
> that aren't really compatible with your code.

Fine, but how do I make these choices?  Its not like the plugin version 
numbers match the eclipse distro numbers.  Some are 3.4.1. If I pick 
3.4.0 then does my build have any relation to the install? Some are 
3.2.1. Why? What will my users have in their ecilpse 3.4.1? also 3.2.1?

> This is all part of designing a plugin or plugins - you have to think 
> about what your target environment requirements are and embed that info 
> into your plugin(s) dependencies and possibly your Feature definition.

I know the requirements, I don't know how to tell eclipse to use them.

jjb