[libra-dev] Target platforms and supporting PDE projects

[Naci Dai <naci.dai@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I just added the following comment to
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=329198

I wanted to share it here too.

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I think the most critical bit would be working with two (possibly
conflicting) "target platforms", i.e. PDE uses target platfrom
defintions for dependency resolution and Virgo uses target runtimes (a
la WTP) for bundle dependencies.
If a proper method for dealing with bundle dependency management is
introduced, and Traget Platform defintions can somehow be wrapped in
these, then  consuming bundles that are PDE projects without any
change should be merely a tooling issue.

However, working with multiple target platforms in the same
application would be riddled with problems for users. For example if
add a bundle to a Virgo server, the "publishing" job maybe required to
 resolve dependencies from two conflicting target, which may not be
solvable problem if there are conflicts.

The best method I can imagine is to expose the Virgo Target Runtime
bundles as a Target Platform so that Virgo Bundle Projects and PDE
Bundle projects use the same set of bundles.

We are experimenting with a similar idea for Libra launchers by
creating a distinct target platfrom definition for each  framework
instance.  This would remove the multiple bubdle sources issue.
However, working with Traget Platform definitions the PDE way is not
good from the user experience point of view.  WTP target platform
concept is much better way to handle the problem.

A nice solution could be the ability add a target runtime into a PDE
target platform definition and delegate the bundle resolution to
Target Runtimes.

I am thinking Libra may not be a bad place to build this support.

-- 
Naci Dai - naci.dai@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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