The DLTK project contributes a DLTK RSE feature to the release train. My guess is that no one else on the release train depends on this DLTK RSE feature, so it would be easy to remove it if necessary.
From adopter's point of view, like JBoss Tools, Zend Studio also heavily relies on RSE.
The new o.e.remote really has some advantages like the Synchronized Project, but still misses some basic features of RSE:
- Connecting to Windows systems (no cygwin please)
- FTP connections
- Remote Systems Explorer view, which allows browsing and editing files without creating a project on a remote system, but also on the local file system using the Local connection.
However, I suppose that Zend Studio, JBoss Tools and any other adopter can continue using RSE outside of the release train, while the project remains under the Eclipse Foundation.
BTW, something interesting I noticed is that IBM has already a fork of the RSE project. In the IBM Rational products the RSE plugins exist with the same org.eclipse.rse.* IDs, but with version 4.4.x. RSE under the Eclipse Foundation is still with version 3.7.2. This already causes a nasty fragmentation of RSE in the community. Any plugin that depends on the EF RSE most likely cannot be installed on IBM Rational due to dependency conflicts.
So, I have a suggestion. If the TM project has no interest in maintaining RSE in future, how about moving RSE to a new "orphan" project outside of the TM project, so those adopter who still rely on RSE can continue maintaining and improving it until they are ready to switch to the new alternative?
Kaloyan