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Bug 37687

Summary: [plan item] Support adding and removing plug-ins dynamically
Product: [Eclipse Project] Platform Reporter: Jim des Rivieres <jeem>
Component: ResourcesAssignee: Jeff McAffer <jeffmcaffer>
Status: RESOLVED FIXED QA Contact:
Severity: enhancement    
Priority: P4 CC: cagatayk, danrubel, dj.houghton, justink, kehn, konradk, victor
Version: 2.1Keywords: plan
Target Milestone: 3.0   
Hardware: All   
OS: All   
Whiteboard:

Description Jim des Rivieres CLA 2003-05-15 11:10:04 EDT
Support adding and removing plug-ins dynamically. Installation and 
configuration of features and plug-ins currently only happens during Eclipse 
Platform startup. The plug-in registry should be made dynamic so that features 
and plug-ins can be added or removed without necessarily having to restart 
Eclipse. This will also entail adding mechanisms for handling the arrival and 
departure of extensions and extension points. Plug-in developers will likely 
require additional support from PDE in writing and debugging well-behaved 
dynamic plug-ins. [Platform Core, PDE] [Theme: Rich client platform]
Comment 1 Jim des Rivieres CLA 2003-05-22 09:08:14 EDT
Added 2 more sentences before last sentence of blurb:

"Additional mechanisms such as services will be added to support the dynamic 
programming model. Alternative runtimes (e.g., OSGi) which offer explicit 
support for dynamic components will also be investigated and used as 
appropriate."
Comment 2 DJ Houghton CLA 2004-04-15 09:58:35 EDT
Dynamic addition and removal is available with the new OSGi based runtime.
Progress has been made to ensure that plug-ins which are part of the RCP behave
nicely for dynamic additions and removals.
Moving to JM for comment/closure.
Comment 3 Jeff McAffer CLA 2004-04-15 11:11:32 EDT
We have done all the work we will for 3.0.  The main target was to enable 
dynamic addition of plugins for RCP scenarios.  This has been accomplished.  
Enabling dynamic removal is mechanically supported in the new runtime but 
complete (systemic) support requires the cooperation and efforts of all plugin 
writers.  This will be approached in an incremental way over future releases.