I’ve spend the last couple weeks reworking most of the plug-in to better support Bazel development. It’s approach isn’t very different from the IntelliJ plug-in, i.e. it runs Bazel query and performs Bazel builds with aspects to obtain project and classpath information from Bazel. With that information it creates projects in Eclipse. It also uses project views (.bazelproject) to configure what’s visible in Eclipse.

However, there are a few differences compared to the Bazel IntelliJ plug-in, which I’d like to highlight.

1. It uses Eclipse projects to map targets so the classpath is really scoped to the classpath of the targets.
2. It allows for some flexibility how targets are mapped to projects – you can have one project per target or one project per package.
3. Because of Eclipse auto-build feature of individual Java source files HotSwap just works and is fast.

Documentation is here. The update site is https://opensource.salesforce.com/bazel-eclipse/latest/.

Oh and there is a preview release of a VS Code extension using the same feature to setup the Java Language Server in VS Code.

The last missing piece is support for a Mozilla browser on macOS. This as been implemented using the XULRunner. However, the XULRunner is deprecated and has been removed from most Linux distros (according to Wikipedia).

I’d like to drop support for it completely from macOS. Is there anyone relying on it? If yes, do you have the time/resources to commit to maintaining it going forward?

Please comment on bug 506092.

As it turns out, the core support is part of Eclipse Neon. The SSH interface had been made extensible for additional identity discovery. The remaining missing piece is the actual code that bridges the ssh-agent connection into the Eclipse SSH interface (powered by JSch). The reason for this are – of course – legal issues. It would be great if those can be addressed and this can be shipped out of the box in Eclipse.

I forked the initial work from the JSch folks and made it consumable as an update site.

Please give it a try:
https://eclipseguru.github.io/eclipse-jsch-agent-proxy/

The setup is pretty un-exciting: MacBook Pro ethernet via Thunderbolt display > Apple Time Capsule > GB switch > Fritzbox 3370 > DSL > Internet > Cisco Firewall.

After some further investigation today, a friend gave me a tip with regards to tweaking the MTU size. Turns out, Apple’s default of 1500 was actually the culprit. I didn’t expect that. My VPN is now working at full DSL speed.

Here is the link to testing and setting the MTU size: Fix WiFi on OS X by tweaking the MTU. Now, even thought the post talks about WiFi, it worked on my wired ethernet connection too.

Have fun!

Turns out that there was a shortcoming in the implementation with regards to building an aggregated version based on component dependencies. After finding out, I opened a defect report, prepared a patch and posted to the mailing list for awareness and getting feedback on Friday. This took me less then an hour of my time. By Monday – only 72 hours later – the patch was accepted and merged into the main code base, unblocking my colleague.

1. Discover the root cause.
2. File defect report
3. Prepare patch
4. Communicate about change and collect feedback
5. Cross fingers – or – hold thumbs.

In my opinion, the key criteria for such a change being successful is the patch size. Yes, I could have added configurability to the change and that would have increased the patch size. The larger a change is, the more time committers need to set aside for understanding and reviewing a change. It’s about the minimal viable solution – keeping things simple. Don’t overwhelm committers with your first change.

Well, and it pays off going to conferences and having a beer or two with project committers.

For details/background please have a look at bug 441957.

The main reason for this change is because the name “Eclipse Standard” meant very different things for people so we decided on a name which clearly identifies the target audience of that package. It contains tools for Java and OSGi/Plug-in development and the source code of Eclipse itself. The history of that package is the Eclipse SDK which IMO shouldn’t be a recommended standard download of Eclipse.

What do you recommend for someone just got told to download “Eclipse”?

Eclipse IDE for Java Developers

Honestly, it has everything you need these days and it’s not to heavy. Even if you don’t need it for Java development I still recommend it as a better option than starting with a vanilla Eclipse Platform Runtime Binary.

But what if I just want an unbranded bare minimum Eclipse?

Here are the steps I suggest in order to build your own Eclipse base:

1. Download an Platform Runtime Binary archive from http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/downloads/
2. Unzip to your local disc and start Eclipse
3. Install the Eclipse Marketplace Client
   1. Got to Help → Install New Software…
   2. Select Work with: Luna – http://download.eclipse.org/releases/luna
   3. Check General Purpose Tools → Marketplace Client
   4. Click Next
   5. Review the installation details and click Next
   6. Accept the license and click Finish
   7. Restart Eclipse

Now you have an absolute bare minimum, unbranded Eclipse package built by yourself. From here it’s easy to install additional plug-ins from the Eclipse Marketplace (got to Help → Eclipse Marketplace…).

I recommend at least the following plug-ins:

• Git Team Provider (EGit)
• Subversion support via Subversive or Subclipse
• AnyEdit Tools

Enjoy!

My reaction when I think #EclipseCon is near… pic.twitter.com/3sCCBukoDw

— Denis Roy (@droy_eclipse) March 11, 2014

The conference is packed with lots of interesting content. I’m also looking forward to the new special days at EclipseCon which are new this year. Read more about EclipseCon and why you should attend on Ian Skerrett’s blog and also on the EclipseCon website.

FWIW, I’ll give two talks myself this year:

Unshackling Mylyn from the desktop
Grand Peninsula A – Tuesday, March 18, 2014 – 13:30 to 14:05

Andrew Eisenberg and myself been working on a prototype to extend Mylyn from the Eclipse IDE into web IDEs. While doing that, Andrew also came up with a few other interesting extensions using the same open web APIs to bring Mylyn into basically any other application. That’s pretty cool. There will be some slides in the beginning and then a full set of demos.

Gerrit reviews from within Eclipse
Grand Peninsula C – Tuesday, March 18, 2014 – 16:15 to 16:50

This one was originally proposed by Ericsson but the speaker isn’t able to attend EclipseCon. However, I was involved in the work that happened last year from the beginning and it’s now available in Mylyn Reviews. With the Gerrit dashboard now being available within Eclipse it’s no longer necessary to switch between the web and Eclipse back and forth when doing code reviews.

For me personally, it really is like a big family anniversary. It will be my ninth EclipseCon in North America and I’m pretty sure it’s not getting any less interesting then my first one. I also look forward to the Hyatt, which I never been at before.

@droy_eclipse Mine pic.twitter.com/2sFfrLe6Uy

— Ken Walker (@kwalker) March 11, 2014

See you all there on Sunday and throughout the whole week!

As an Orbit committer, it’s has been my pleasure to convert Java libraries to OSGi for quite some time now. If you know how Orbit bundles are created, you know it’s an exercise. Thus, I also have a high motivation for the Eclipse EBR project to be successful. Last week was one of those where I looked at upgrading a few of the Orbit bundles I’m maintaining. Turns out, the libraries are actually quite active and – as every good OS project does these days – they also release very frequently. That’s really turning into a boring exercise. Thus, I decided to craft together a process that would simplify things for me.

The result is very promising. With just one nice little Maven plug-in I created, a small Maven POM and an OSGi BND descriptor file I’m now able to consume the libraries directly from Maven central (or whatever Maven repo they come from), push them through a filtering step which may remove or add files, generate the OSGi manifest headers, add p2 metadata information and deploy them back into a Maven repository (eg. a local one). Then, in a second step, I’ll let Tycho run and it creates a p2 repository where the bundles are published together with a source bundle containing the library source code. Done.

Over the next few days I’m hoping to make that available in the EBR Git repository. For the time being I pushed it to Github*[1]. I first need to review the dependencies and push them through the Eclipse.org IP process. Once that is done, we should have a pretty neat solution for EBR. However, remember that EBR will only host and distribute the recipes, not the actual libraries. You have to generate them yourself.

For Eclipse projects, this is where Orbit comes back into the game. Orbit can take and run the recipes of all IP approved libraries from EBR (or create its own) and publish the bundles as today in p2 repositories.

Stay tuned!

[1]: Update, Feb. 28

I pushed the Maven plug-in as well as the first recipes to the Eclipse Git repository. You can browse them at git.eclipse.org GitHub.

2nd Update, July 8 2015

The EBR project is available at github.com/eclipse/ebr. Submit pull requests for all the recipes you create!

https://www.eclipsecon.org/na2014/cfp

We tax for committership!

Seriously?

Let’s charge 300 bucks!

Nooooo!

On one hand, the investment into the Eclipse IDE of existing, long-time contributors is declining. There might be plenty of reasons for that. But over time, this decline in investment has become visible to the users of Eclipse – developers that use it every day to get their job done. Personally, I’m missing innovation in things that really makes up a great IDE. Well, some might say that innovation happens in the web these days. Desktop IDEs are boring.

Really? Because on the other hand, there are many companies out there which are spending quite a bit of money on licenses for commercial desktop IDEs every year! Thus, I’m wondering if some of those companies would rather spend a similar amount or a bit less on Eclipse? Do you care about developers? Imagine there is a team of experienced people with a great vision on the Eclipse IDE available that is seeking for funding. Imagine that with your funding, you can not only contribute to a sustainable future of the Eclipse IDE but also participate in making decisions on how this future should look like. Now I’m telling you, that you don’t even need to hire developers for that!

This idea of leveraging an industry working group for bringing the Eclipse IDE forward has been circulating around for some time now. I finally sat down and put together a proposal for an Eclipse IDE industry working group.

Industry working groups at Eclipse are an easy way for companies to efficiently work together on a common goal. I’m looking for feedback and interested parties! Does that idea sound interesting? What aspects of the proposal do you like and which not at all? How much would you be willing to spend? What kind of participation do you like? What is missing and should be covered?

There are plenty of questions. Please don’t hesitate and reach out to me (@guw or gunnar at wagenknecht dot org) or subscribe to the ide-dev mailing list and join our discussions! There are also two interesting sessions at EclipseCon Europe that you should join: Making the Eclipse IDE fun again and an Eclipse IDE BoF.

IMO this is one of the best ways to allow the community to participate and make its voice heard. Topics such as committer tools (Git, Bugzilla & co) and improvements to the IP process (such as parallel IP, incubation) are discussed at the board resulting into plans/directions for the Eclipse Foundation to implement.

My vision and my goals for 2013 are available online on my candidate page. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate and send them to me.

Two days ago webmaster sent out an email to all committers with voting credentials.

Please don’t miss this chance to make your voice heard and vote now. I would be pleased to receive yours.

Thanks!

Polyglot Persistence: EclipseLink JPA for NoSQL, Relational, and Beyond
(Tuesday, Oct 2, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM – Parc 55 – Cyril Magnin I) 

Yes, there will be a demo running EclipseLink on Gyrex OSGi connecting to MongoDB.

I’m currently in Frankfurt  waiting at the gate. I’ll arrive Friday night in San Francisco and will stay till next Friday (Oct. 5th). If you are around, interested in a chat (about runtimes, OSGi, other stuff that matters) and/or want to grab a beer please ping me!

It’s no secret that IBM’s investment into the core platform is declining. From looking at the stats today, they still have 80+ active Eclipse committers. However, only three (according to this mail) are working on the core platform (Platform UI that is).

Another issue is attitude. There are a lot companies out there using and building on the core platform. However, most just take the investment by IBM for granted. A lot also simply underestimated the effect of a new major release. Eclipse 4 is a complete rewrite in terms of Platform UI. Of course it’s not as stable as 3.x yet. However, I heard statements like “oh it (any Eclipse release) always worked for us“. So some just didn’t care a lot about testing on 4.x. That valuable testing feedback is painfully missed these days.

Frankly, I’m curious myself how this will turn out because developer tools are still necessary. I just can’t believe that no one of the large companies with hundreds and thousands of developers realizes that. I actually thought about making a business out of that, i.e. getting paid for working on the core of Eclipse by selling maintenance/support contracts/features. However, I also think that this will be a challenging business to develop. It’s hard to convince companies of certain sizes to spend money on something they either get for free or invest money into someone that is too small for their business.

BTW, I know of at least a few companies in the Eclipse ecosystem that tried. But they never became a significant contributor to the core platform. Not sure if it was a matter of lack of business or lack of focus. They are making money with Eclipse, though. Their business is also based on the core platform. Wondering what they will do.

It’s also hard to convince members who are already paying membership fees to spend additional money for developing Eclipse.  Paying twice sounds unfair. So another intriguing option is to change the Foundation by-laws so that it will be allowed to hire rock star core platform developers. Maybe they just need to hire a complement to Linus for Eclipse. Well that would be me or course.

I also do have an issue with people complaining very loudly about something. It’s not that there weren’t any previous chances to chime in and speak up when previous decisions were made. But those complaining the loudest do not necessarily represent a majority. Note, I’m not denying any of the Eclipse 4 problems here. Just saying something I observed during my excursions in politics.  It’s not what you say, but how you say it.

Luckily, Google not only noticed that discussion but carefully paid attention for an immediate need. Their Open Source office donated $20.000 to buy new performance testing hardware. Thank you Google! 

BTW, Eclipse 4.2 runs fine on my new notebook. I did not observe the performance issues so far. However, I remember I had issues with the new animations on my old notebook. I showed them to Eric at ECE 2011 . But that was on a development build and turning off animations solved my performance issues back then.

I really wonder how this will turn out. I recently learned that SAP is the 3rd largest contributor to Eclipse these days. I hope they will start investing into the core platform. The guys in the SAP Open Source office (although not officially named as such) are smart. But it would mean for IBM to give up control and let others play an important role in the strategic future of the core platform.

Please give us your feedback in bug 378285.

We quickly setup an Eclipse stand over there and Mike, Andrew and myself are showing demos and talking to people. BTW, thanks to the FOSDEM organizer to have it well prepared so that we just needed to setup our banner and our notebooks for the demos.

So far we have a great mixture of questions from developers using Eclipse for their day-to-day work, programming questions of Eclipse plug-in developers and people interested in Orion. There are also people stepping by that have no questions – they introduce themselves as happy Eclipse users and appreciate what the committers of the various projects have built over time. Thanks for those kind words folks!