Automatic install dependencies for Eclipse plugin

Question

I'm developing an Eclipse plugins with Tycho and maven, that relies on another one's features to accomplish its task. The requirement Is not at compile time, but at runtime. The end user must have the second plugin installed in Eclipse for mine to work correctly.

I would like to avoid the user having to manually install the second plugin, and install It automatically when he/she installs mine.

Btw the plugin Is the "m2e connector for the maven dependency plugin" developed by Ianbrandt

Is It possible? How?

Answer 1

First a little background to how Eclipse handles stuff:

You install any plugin from a update-site . In those you define features , which can be collected in categories . Features are the artifacts which bundle eclipse plugins together.

If you have a runtime requirement in my opinion the best thing is to require it at the feature you want to deploy.

The other side is the supply of the dependency. If you want to assure that the installer is able get the connector, you should redeploy it with your update-site . This can be achieved by adding all transitive dependencies to your update-site or add the required bundles by hand. There is also a possibility to reference other eclipse update sites from yours, but this feature is in the current packaging type from tycho broken.

As far as I know the "m2e connector for the maven dependency plugin" is available in the eclipse eco system and it should be found, when requiring it in the install process.