Is anyone using Maven to build Eclipse plugins and package
them as an RCP application?
We are starting a new project - this seems to be a good opportunity
to give Maven a try. The project will consist of building many
plugins and bundling them into an installable package. The similarity
of the process for each plugin seems well suited for Maven. However,
there are many "artifacts" produced at different levels in the
development process.
We are currently in the prototyping stage and our ANT process looks
something like this:
Step 1
Create the overall target structure, as dictated by Eclipse
- main folder
+-- resources
+-- plugins folder
+-- plugin 1...
+-- plugin N
+-- plugin.xml
+-- icons folder
+-- icon1.png, icon2.png, etc
+-- classes folder
+-- subfolders by package...and .class files
+-- help folder
Step 2
Compile classes into the classes folder. Now we can run and debug
during the coding cycle.
Step 3
Create the individual plugin files. These are needed separately from
the end bundle so they can be placed on the website for auto-update
capabilities.
At this step, the classes folder of each plugin is JARed into
<myplugin.jar> and the classes folder is removed. Each plugin folder
is zipped, archived and made available for internal deployment...
eventually put on the website for deployment to the general user
community.
Step 4
Create the installer
Bundle everything in the target folder structure into an installable
image. A 3rd party tool is used for this, but it is convenient to
have the bundle in the same organization as the installed image.
Since we will have many plugins, using ANT will be cumbersome and
repetitive...but entirely possible. Is Maven an option for us without
major headaches? I see very compelling reasons to use it, but have
also found in my research that it imposes a rigorous organization.
Since the Eclipse architecture dictates a lot of things, I am concerend
about the compatability.
Currently we use the same ANT script for production builds and on
the developer desktops...which keeps everybody in sync. Is Maven
suitable for use on the developer desktops? Is creating an ANT script
from the Maven project workable in this scenario?
Is the fact that we need different artifacts for different things
at various points in the process a problem?
I've got about a million other questions...but I'll stop here for now :)
TIA,
Chris
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Chris Merrill | http://www.webperformanceinc.com
Web Performance Inc. | http://www.webperformancemonitoring.net
Website Load Testing, Stress Testing, and Performance Monitoring Software
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