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Custom distros for private use? [message #7460]

Thu, 28 February 2008 18:05

Aaron Siri

Messages: 33
Registered: July 2009

Member

I'm attempting to use the EPP features for creating a custom distro for
use within my company. It is mainly a version of Eclipse with the
plugins we need already installed and ready to go. I have a few questions:

1. Is creating custom distros for private (local) use an expected use of
EPP?

2. Which versions of Eclipse are expected to be in the rootFileFolder?
The RCP versions? SDK? I don't want to have a mirror of the entire
eclipse.org downloads and am wondering what I need for EPP to build bundles.

3. Are non-eclipse.org update sites supported? (I was having problems
pulling a feature from a non eclipse.org site and want to make sure EPP
wasn't hardwired to work with eclipse.org.)

4. (This may be related to question 2 above) I've created a
configuration file and, using the CVS version of EPP as described in
"How to build a package locally" it seems to get through a lot of the
packaging process until it gets to the "Building configured
application..." step. All I see is (via an ant target):

> [java] Building configured application...
> [java] Configuration files taken from /home/aaronsi/workspace/packagerConfiguration.
> [java] The application will be built in /home/aaronsi/workspace.

at which point it dies silently. Any idea on what should be happening
next or what I'm doing wrong? I have the SDK and RCP eclipse packages
in the rootFileFolder.

Thanks for any info.

-Aaron

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Re: Custom distros for private use? [message #7471 is a reply to message #7460]

Thu, 28 February 2008 19:30

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: mknauer.innoopract.com

Hi Aaron,

see my comments below... :)

Aaron Siri wrote:

> I'm attempting to use the EPP features for creating a custom distro for
> use within my company. It is mainly a version of Eclipse with the
> plugins we need already installed and ready to go. I have a few
> questions:
>
> 1. Is creating custom distros for private (local) use an expected use of
> EPP?

Yes, this is a use case, but I didn't provide a fancy editor for the config
files, nor is it really integrated in Eclipse as it is running on the
server.
If many people start using the EPP tools (and not only our packages), I
would be happy to work with other interested people on making it more easy
to use.

> 2. Which versions of Eclipse are expected to be in the rootFileFolder?
> The RCP versions? SDK? I don't want to have a mirror of the entire
> eclipse.org downloads and am wondering what I need for EPP to build
> bundles.

I am using the Eclipse Platform downloads. EPP uses the root files from that
archive. I know that there are better ways, but it is a reliable method to
get everything you need.

On the other hand, the name of the files is kind of hard wired. The EPP
build uses the rcp version attribute (e.g. "3.4M4") to build the file name
of the platform archive. I am not sure, but it looks like this could be
your problem below.

> 3. Are non-eclipse.org update sites supported? (I was having problems
> pulling a feature from a non eclipse.org site and want to make sure EPP
> wasn't hardwired to work with eclipse.org.)

Yes, it's a standard URL and it is up to you to use something like
file:///home/data/httpd/download.eclipse.org/releases/ganyme de/ if you are
on the build server itself, or to use another URL.

The EPP build is caching the downloaded features and plugins, i.e. you do
not have to download things twice if you are running multiple builds.

> 4. (This may be related to question 2 above) I've created a
> configuration file and, using the CVS version of EPP as described in
> "How to build a package locally" it seems to get through a lot of the
> packaging process until it gets to the "Building configured
> application..." step. All I see is (via an ant target):
>
>> [java] Building configured application...
>> [java] Configuration files taken from
>> [/home/aaronsi/workspace/packagerConfiguration.
>> [java] The application will be built in /home/aaronsi/workspace.
>
> at which point it dies silently. Any idea on what should be happening
> next or what I'm doing wrong? I have the SDK and RCP eclipse packages
> in the rootFileFolder.

A successful build log looks like this here:
http://download.eclipse.org/technology/epp/downloads/release /ganymede/M5/jee.log

If everything is okay you would see as next messages

## Packing installation site....Done.
## Building...Done.
## Moving Files...Done.
## Done.

Do you have any log files in your runtime workspace?

Or did you try to start the build with '-consoleLog'?

Sometimes it's really hard to figure out a specific error. Most of the times
there are dependency errors (one plugin requires a specific version of
another, etc.)

Let me know if one of these things helped to solve your problem and to get
your EPP build running.

Markus

>
> Thanks for any info.
>
> -Aaron

Report message to a moderator

Re: Custom distros for private use? [message #7482 is a reply to message #7471]

Fri, 29 February 2008 14:14

Aaron Siri

Messages: 33
Registered: July 2009

Member

Thanks for the help. So far it is working well for us. The only issue
I ran into was that the skeletons directory wasn't included in the
binary build (build.properties) so that when I exported the plugin (I
run it via commandline from ant) it failed because it couldn't find the
skeleton files.

Is there a binary build available anywhere?

-Aaron

Markus Knauer wrote:
> Hi Aaron,
>
> see my comments below... :)
>
> Aaron Siri wrote:
>
>> I'm attempting to use the EPP features for creating a custom distro for
>> use within my company. It is mainly a version of Eclipse with the
>> plugins we need already installed and ready to go. I have a few
>> questions:
>>
>> 1. Is creating custom distros for private (local) use an expected use of
>> EPP?
>
> Yes, this is a use case, but I didn't provide a fancy editor for the config
> files, nor is it really integrated in Eclipse as it is running on the
> server.
> If many people start using the EPP tools (and not only our packages), I
> would be happy to work with other interested people on making it more easy
> to use.
>
>> 2. Which versions of Eclipse are expected to be in the rootFileFolder?
>> The RCP versions? SDK? I don't want to have a mirror of the entire
>> eclipse.org downloads and am wondering what I need for EPP to build
>> bundles.
>
> I am using the Eclipse Platform downloads. EPP uses the root files from that
> archive. I know that there are better ways, but it is a reliable method to
> get everything you need.
>
> On the other hand, the name of the files is kind of hard wired. The EPP
> build uses the rcp version attribute (e.g. "3.4M4") to build the file name
> of the platform archive. I am not sure, but it looks like this could be
> your problem below.
>
>
>> 3. Are non-eclipse.org update sites supported? (I was having problems
>> pulling a feature from a non eclipse.org site and want to make sure EPP
>> wasn't hardwired to work with eclipse.org.)
>
> Yes, it's a standard URL and it is up to you to use something like
> file:///home/data/httpd/download.eclipse.org/releases/ganyme de/ if you are
> on the build server itself, or to use another URL.
>
> The EPP build is caching the downloaded features and plugins, i.e. you do
> not have to download things twice if you are running multiple builds.
>
>
>> 4. (This may be related to question 2 above) I've created a
>> configuration file and, using the CVS version of EPP as described in
>> "How to build a package locally" it seems to get through a lot of the
>> packaging process until it gets to the "Building configured
>> application..." step. All I see is (via an ant target):
>>
>>> [java] Building configured application...
>>> [java] Configuration files taken from
>>> [/home/aaronsi/workspace/packagerConfiguration.
>>> [java] The application will be built in /home/aaronsi/workspace.
>> at which point it dies silently. Any idea on what should be happening
>> next or what I'm doing wrong? I have the SDK and RCP eclipse packages
>> in the rootFileFolder.
>
>
> A successful build log looks like this here:
> http://download.eclipse.org/technology/epp/downloads/release /ganymede/M5/jee.log
>
> If everything is okay you would see as next messages
>
> ## Packing installation site....Done.
> ## Building...Done.
> ## Moving Files...Done.
> ## Done.
>
> Do you have any log files in your runtime workspace?
>
> Or did you try to start the build with '-consoleLog'?
>
> Sometimes it's really hard to figure out a specific error. Most of the times
> there are dependency errors (one plugin requires a specific version of
> another, etc.)
>
> Let me know if one of these things helped to solve your problem and to get
> your EPP build running.
>
> Markus
>
>
>> Thanks for any info.
>>
>> -Aaron
>

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Re: Custom distros for private use? [message #10909 is a reply to message #7482]

Wed, 01 October 2008 15:26

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: gregor.rosenauer.itsv.at

I have recently discovered the usefulness of EPP for building a reference
installation of Eclipse for my employer.
The process was challenging as we have strict proxies that prevented me
from checking out the project from CVS, update sites come online and
offline unexpectedly, and Windows does not have an "unzip.exe"
preinstalled, which is expected by the Packager.

Now I get as far as Packager building my custom ZIP, but on the final
step, where the Ant script is invoked, it fails:

Packing installation site....Done.
Building...Could not build package.:
org.apache.tools.ant.Project.setProjectReference(Ljava/lang/ Object;)V:org.apache.tools.ant.Project.setProjectReference(L java/lang/Object;)V

The full log excerpt:

!SUBENTRY 1 org.eclipse.ant.core 4 1 2008-10-01 13:54:12.126
!MESSAGE
org.apache.tools.ant.Project.setProjectReference(Ljava/lang/ Object;)V
!STACK 0
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError:
org.apache.tools.ant.Project.setProjectReference(Ljava/lang/ Object;)V
at
org.eclipse.ant.internal.core.ant.InputHandlerSetter.setInpu tHandler(InputHandlerSetter.java:43)
at
org.eclipse.ant.internal.core.ant.InternalAntRunner.addInput Handler(InternalAntRunner.java:1273)
at
org.eclipse.ant.internal.core.ant.InternalAntRunner.run(Inte rnalAntRunner.java:532)
at
org.eclipse.ant.internal.core.ant.InternalAntRunner.run(Inte rnalAntRunner.java:456)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at
sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAcce ssorImpl.java:39)
at
sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMe thodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at org.eclipse.ant.core.AntRunner.run(AntRunner.java:378)
at org.eclipse.ant.core.AntRunner.run(AntRunner.java:475)
at
org.eclipse.epp.packaging.core.assembly.PackagerRunner.packA pplication(PackagerRunner.java:51)

I am using Eclipse 3.4 EE package, also tried with a clean 3.4.1 RCP
install, same issue. Using Ant 1.7. I would be grateful for any help.

BTW Packager's logging is quite sparse, esp. on startup it stays quiet for
some time while digesting the features, I added some logging and it is
better indicating progress now, maybe this could be added?
It would also be very handy if update sites that are offline or not
reachable do not break the build but are retried at the end of the
process, before Packager continues with the next step. I have experienced
that simply rerunning the build will work, as sites are sometimes flaky
but come back online shortly most of the time.

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Re: Custom distros for private use? [message #576245 is a reply to message #7460]

Thu, 28 February 2008 19:30

Markus Knauer

Messages: 179
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

Hi Aaron,

see my comments below... :)

Aaron Siri wrote:

> I'm attempting to use the EPP features for creating a custom distro for
> use within my company. It is mainly a version of Eclipse with the
> plugins we need already installed and ready to go. I have a few
> questions:
>
> 1. Is creating custom distros for private (local) use an expected use of
> EPP?

Yes, this is a use case, but I didn't provide a fancy editor for the config
files, nor is it really integrated in Eclipse as it is running on the
server.
If many people start using the EPP tools (and not only our packages), I
would be happy to work with other interested people on making it more easy
to use.

> 2. Which versions of Eclipse are expected to be in the rootFileFolder?
> The RCP versions? SDK? I don't want to have a mirror of the entire
> eclipse.org downloads and am wondering what I need for EPP to build
> bundles.

I am using the Eclipse Platform downloads. EPP uses the root files from that
archive. I know that there are better ways, but it is a reliable method to
get everything you need.

On the other hand, the name of the files is kind of hard wired. The EPP
build uses the rcp version attribute (e.g. "3.4M4") to build the file name
of the platform archive. I am not sure, but it looks like this could be
your problem below.

> 3. Are non-eclipse.org update sites supported? (I was having problems
> pulling a feature from a non eclipse.org site and want to make sure EPP
> wasn't hardwired to work with eclipse.org.)

Yes, it's a standard URL and it is up to you to use something like
file:///home/data/httpd/download.eclipse.org/releases/ganyme de/ if you are
on the build server itself, or to use another URL.

The EPP build is caching the downloaded features and plugins, i.e. you do
not have to download things twice if you are running multiple builds.

> 4. (This may be related to question 2 above) I've created a
> configuration file and, using the CVS version of EPP as described in
> "How to build a package locally" it seems to get through a lot of the
> packaging process until it gets to the "Building configured
> application..." step. All I see is (via an ant target):
>
>> [java] Building configured application...
>> [java] Configuration files taken from
>> [/home/aaronsi/workspace/packagerConfiguration.
>> [java] The application will be built in /home/aaronsi/workspace.
>
> at which point it dies silently. Any idea on what should be happening
> next or what I'm doing wrong? I have the SDK and RCP eclipse packages
> in the rootFileFolder.

A successful build log looks like this here:
http://download.eclipse.org/technology/epp/downloads/release /ganymede/M5/jee.log

If everything is okay you would see as next messages

## Packing installation site....Done.
## Building...Done.
## Moving Files...Done.
## Done.

Do you have any log files in your runtime workspace?

Or did you try to start the build with '-consoleLog'?

Sometimes it's really hard to figure out a specific error. Most of the times
there are dependency errors (one plugin requires a specific version of
another, etc.)

Let me know if one of these things helped to solve your problem and to get
your EPP build running.

Markus

>
> Thanks for any info.
>
> -Aaron

--

Twitter: @mknauer23 and @EclipseRAP
Blog: http://eclipsesource.com/blogs/

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