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Bug 213542

Summary:	Target Definition should include all plugin directories being used
Product:	[Eclipse Project] PDE	Reporter:	Lee Surprenant <lmsurpre>
Component:	UI	Assignee:	PDE-UI-Inbox <pde-ui-inbox>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED	QA Contact:
Severity:	enhancement
Priority:	P3	CC:	baumanbr, curtis.windatt.public
Version:	3.3
Target Milestone:	3.5 M6
Hardware:	PC
OS:	Windows XP
Whiteboard:

Description Lee Surprenant

2007-12-19 18:13:11 EST

I use multiple plugin directories so that I can better control my target platform (UI allows you to group by location).  After discovering ".target" files, I created one and added my plugins/features to the content section but when I tried to set this as my target platform, I was notified of a long list of plugins that couldn't be found.  After banging my head for a short while, I realized that I needed to add each of my plugin directories (as signified by their .eclipseextension file) in the Additional Locations section of the Overview tab.  It would save users a lot of time and trouble if the host (running) platform mentioned actually matched the running platform (or somehow indicated it does not).  

It would also be reasonable/acceptable for the Additional Locations section to have my additional plugin directories pre-populated or for the content section to only show me the plugins/features that will be found.  It might have also been useful to tell me that the plugins in my workspace would not be found either.  There is a checkbox for this in the contents section, so maybe this could be moved into the Overview section instead.

One problem with forcing me to add the additional locations is that this will cause errors for my teamates if I try to share the .target file.

Comment 1 Brian Bauman

2008-01-03 16:37:06 EST

Did you try to use the option of "Use the current target platform settings" when creating the Target platform?  The goal is to get as much as we loaded into the target from the target platform.

> It would also be reasonable/acceptable for the Additional Locations section to
> have my additional plugin directories pre-populated or for the content section
> to only show me the plugins/features that will be found.  

We have a bug (128303) open for this.  It is not as easy as it sounds (from a performance stand point).  If you wish to include all the plug-ins found in the directory, you can also select the "Include all plug-ins from the specified target" in the Target Editor which will automatically include all the plug-ins it finds.

> It might have also
> been useful to tell me that the plugins in my workspace would not be found
> either. 

This is not a stead fast rule.  If the plug-in exists in your workspace and target platform, odds are (unless you are doing something advanced), the plug-in will be found.  There is not really too much work can do for case.

I ran through this scenario of adding additional file locations to the target platform through the target provisioner, creating a target based on the current target platform settings, then loading the target.  Though the target contained an entry for additional directories, it was not able to load the additional directory correctly.  We should investigate this to make sure a target's additional directory and the file system target provisioner are resolved in the same manner.

Comment 2 Curtis Windatt

2009-03-16 12:25:52 EDT

This is solved in the new target platform story by using an installation container in your target.  You point it at the home directory of an Eclipse install and we will grab whatever is installed (from the plug-ins dir, extension locations, etc.).