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I don't believe that the present PDE build properties editor should be the default editor for build.properties files. build.properties files are used by many ant build scripts. Many of them include additional properties, which are not displayed in the build.properties editor. Also comments are deleted by the present build.properties editor.
[Changed Platform to All since problem is not Mac specific]
If there are scripts that are using build.properties for 'sneaking in' keys that are not part of build.properties definition, they are doing so at their own risk. File 'build.properties' has a well defined syntax and a closed set of valid keys, all of which are supported by the current build.properties editor. In case of custom build scripts, 'build.properties' simply contains 'custom=true' and nothing else. You should not use the well defined file for other purposes and then claim that the supplied editor cannot handle them.
Are you saying that "build.properties" is an eclipse standard vocabulary for java projects? I was viewing the editor for "build.properties" as a standard for PDE "build.properties" files. In eclipse M3, the PDE bp editor is used for all "build.properties" files in java projects, and not just for PDE projects.
build.properties is a standard Eclipse file used for controlling Ant builds of projects in the workspace. They are also used by Eclipse build team when building Eclipse from the build scripts. If you are using another file called 'build.properties' for other purposes, then we have a name collision and I agree that Eclipse build.properties editor is in the way. You can solve the problem in several ways: 1) Use a different name for your non-Eclipse Java building 2) Change the file association in preferences for build.properties file name.
custom=true does keep the script from being clobbered by the bp editor. I am using the build.xml ant script from apache tomcat 4, so the build.properties contains additional properties (and some comments). When you click, "fragment uses a custom script", it removes all comments, and makes existing build properties file, a simple properties file. Perhaps checking custom, might just add "custom=true" as the first line of the file.
At the moment, all PDE editors rewrite the source file when the content is being changed through the UI pages. We are working on improving that. However, your explanation does indicate that you are using the file for what it was not designed for. PDE editor was meant to offer you value-add by taking advantage of the known key set (and what those keys mean in the context of the project and the workspace). We cannot be responsible for not honouring keys that are not legal for this particular use. If you still insist in adding these extra keys, we recommend changing the file association for build.properties. You can easily do that in the preferences under 'Workspace>File Associations'.
The valid portion of this defect (overwriting comments) will be addressed part of bug 37661 *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 37661 ***
