[news.eclipse.tools] Re: Use of the eclipse\links folder?

[Cagatay Kavukcuoglu <cagatayk@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Peter Manahan wrote:
> Cagatay Kavukcuoglu wrote:
>
> > David Whiteman wrote:
> >
> > > One usage of this folder is to make it easier to move to a new 
> > > version of Eclipse.  You could keep your plugins in a folder outside 
> > > your Eclipse install directory (much like the recommended approach 
> > > for workspaces), and then when you install a more recent build, you 
> > > just copy the links folder over to the new one.  Otherwise it is 
> > > difficult to remember which plugins and features you have installed 
> > > and to copy them over correctly to the new install.
> > >
> > > David
> >
> > I used to do this but it does have a problem I couldn't work around: 
> > How do you convince Update Manager to use the linked site for new 
> > feature installations? In other words, I want the linked site to show 
> > up in the list of sites when installing a new feature.
> >
> > Right now, I use the "-configuration <URL-to-platform.cfg>" 
> > command-line parameter. This way, I can have multiple workspaces and a 
> > global platform configuration independent of a particular workspace 
> > (by default, platform.cfg is stored under the .metadata of a workspace).
> What happens when you use the add button? Does it give and error?
>
> Peter

No, there was no error. When the dialog that lists the sites the feature 
can be installed to was shown, the extension site that was already 
linked (and displayed in the Install Configuration view) was just not in 
the list. I didn't want to risk screwing up my configuration by trying 
to add it a second time.

However, this was before 2.1 and I don't know what the latest situation 
is. I do remember seeing a few sentences in 2.0 update manager design 
documents that said linked extension sites could only be updated by 
native installers, though. Is that still true in 2.1?

In any case, the solution with the command line parameter seems to work 
out better as I don't have to worry about preserving the links folder 
before replacing the whole thing with a new version. The only catch is 
in order to create a new site for your customized plugins you have to 
find something that installs via the Update Manager or build your own 
update package, as that's the only way you can create a new site in the 
user interface. A good (though fairly advanced) feature might be to let 
the user create and remove sites manually in Update Manager.