[cdt-dev] Changes to the ToolReference class hierarchy

[Sean Evoy <sevoy@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,
I am posting to let interested parties
know that there has been some more work done on ToolReferences in the managed
build, specifically on tweaking the implementation hierarchy. There is
now an abstract base class for tool references. The tool references we
used to have are now simply one possible implementation. There is also
a basic interface that all tool reference subclasses must implement. The
net effect on existing models is null. However, allowing more sophisticated
implementations of the tool references should give partners more flexibility
going forward.  One possible use might be a specialized reference
to an embedded tool that reads its settings in from a custom location in
one case, and defaults to the settings in the manifest in another.

I would like to thank Jeremiah Lott
from Timesys for doing the heavy lifting on this work. It was his proposal,
and I believe he is planning on rolling out more work to the open source
based on this change to the build model. 

Please feel free to ask any further
question. I am in the process of doing some final testing before committing
the changes to the class hierarchy.

Sean Evoy
Rational Software - IBM Software Group
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada