Eclipse Community Forums: Eclipse Platform

Home » Eclipse Projects » Eclipse Platform » bundle vs. plugin

Fri, 18 July 2008 17:04

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: abeerends.gmail.com

(cross posting from eclipse.technology.equinox)

I'm in the midst of an ongoing debate and am curious to hear the opinions
of others.

Do you make any distinction between the words bundle and plugin? Do you
prefer to use one over the other? Why?

We used to say that "bundle" was anything that was pure OSGI and and a
plug-in was anything that used Eclipse specific functionality such as the
plugin.xml file. But at EclipseCon, Tom Watson was using them
interchangeably and when I question him about it he said that he does not
see a need to make a distinction.

I'm inclined to think that the word "plugin" is just a hangover from the
pre-3.0 days and that the two words can be used interchangeably and
newcomers should be taught that both words refer to the same thing.
Neither word should be ignored in training/education so as to keep people
from being confused when they get out into the real word and see both.
Incidentally, the course outline[1] for the RCP Training series[2] only
contains the word "plugin".

What do you think?

Thanks,
Amber

[1] - http://www.eclipse.org/community/training/RCP_Training_Outli ne.pdf
[2] - http://www.eclipse.org/org/press-release/20080219_RCPtrainin g.php

Re: bundle vs. plugin [message #330205 is a reply to message #330197]

Sun, 20 July 2008 21:32

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: zx.code9.com

Amber Beerends wrote:
> What do you think?

plugin == bundle

The word plug-in has been used in Eclipse for ages, before Eclipse
actually moved to OSGi (in Eclipse 3.0). In OSGi, the term has been
bundle. All Eclipse plug-ins are OSGi bundles as of Eclipse 3.0

What are you specifically looking for?

Cheers,

~ Chris

Re: bundle vs. plugin [message #330209 is a reply to message #330205]

Mon, 21 July 2008 08:14

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: nospam_kowalskilee.gmail.com

Do "we" (= The royal Eclipse community use of the word "we")
*care*
when the term "bundle" is used and when the term "plug-in" is used?

And if not, then why shouldn't the RCP Training materials use both terms
at any point in the RCP Training materials?

Thanks,
--Lee Anne

Chris Aniszczyk wrote:
> Amber Beerends wrote:
>> What do you think?
>
> plugin == bundle
>
> The word plug-in has been used in Eclipse for ages, before Eclipse
> actually moved to OSGi (in Eclipse 3.0). In OSGi, the term has been
> bundle. All Eclipse plug-ins are OSGi bundles as of Eclipse 3.0
>
> What are you specifically looking for?
>
> Cheers,
>
> ~ Chris

Re: bundle vs. plugin [message #330431 is a reply to message #330209]

Mon, 28 July 2008 15:02

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: abeerends.gmail.com

> Do "we" (= The royal Eclipse community use of the word "we")
> *care*
> when the term "bundle" is used and when the term "plug-in" is used?

> And if not, then why shouldn't the RCP Training materials use both terms
> at any point in the RCP Training materials?

(Sorry for the delay; I was out of town riding my bike across Iowa for
fun...)

Yes, that's a good rewording of my question. Does it matter which word is
used? Why use "plug-in" in the RCP training materials instead of
"bundle"? Was it an intentional decision or just accidental?

I'd prefer to use "bundle" since OSGi is the underlying architecture, but
also believe that they can be used interchangeably and that both should be
used in training so people don't get confused when we let them out into
the world. But those on the other side of the debate insist that
"plug-in" should be used when referring to Eclipse and they site the RCP
training materials as an example of the Eclipse powers-that-be (who
developed those materials anyway?) preference for the world plug-in.

Previous Topic:	How to use core expressions language in my own extension point
Next Topic:	"Open" menu action in Project Explorer

Goto Forum:

-=] Back to Top [=-

Current Time: Tue Aug 05 12:50:20 EDT 2025

.:: Contact :: Home ::.

Breadcrumbs

Sign up to our Newsletter