Re: [jdt-core-dev] Apt processor handling

[Igor Fedorenko <igor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My list of problems with Eclipse built-in annotation processing support
is longer

* Due to a bug in annotation processing jsr, a class of annotation
processors cannot be supported by incremental build environment like
Eclipse. I have couple of ideas how to improve this, but didn't really
have time to work on them yet.
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=447546
* Some annotation processors fail to report "originating" elements when
calling Filer #createNNN methods.  This makes such processors
incompatible with incremental build.

* It is not possible to have multiple generated sources/resources
locations per project, which is required to support Maven and I assume
other modern build systems.
* Likewise, all all annotation processors work on all project sources,
which makes support for Maven main/test sources impossible.
* It is not possible to control which processors will be used for a
project, Eclipse unconditionally runs all processors it finds on
processor path.

>From my experience, these limitations make Eclipse's built-in annotation
processing support unusable for all but the most simple projects. We had
to develop alternative approach to integrate annotation processors in
Eclipse.

-- 
Regards,
Igor

On Thu, Sep 29, 2016, at 07:58 AM, Lars Vogel wrote:
> Dear JDT core developers,
> 
> A fellow Java champion pointed out to me that the annotation
> processing setup in Eclipse is very complex compared to other IDEs.
> Here is what we wrote me (slightly reworked for readability):
> 
> QUOTE_BEGIN
> ------------
> - NetBeans automatically finds APT JARs in the classpath. You can't
> turn it off. You can't tweak any settings.
> - IntelliJ  allows to activate APT processing (per project) with a
> checkbox; this will find all available APT JARs in the classpath by
> default. You can also configure which JARs may be used.
> - Eclipse forces you to locate and define every APT JAR by hand, per
> project.
> 
> This means NB is on one side of the spectrum (fully automatic) where
> Eclipse is at the opposite side (fully manual), while Intellij sits
> somewhere in between.
> 
> Example instructions for all IDEs can be found at
> http://griffon-framework.org/tutorials/1_getting_started.html#_tutorial_1_4
> ------------
> QUOTE_END
> 
> I have not used apt-processors myself in Eclipse but this setup sounds
> relatively complex compared to the other alternatives.
> 
> Are there plans to improve this? Without knowing the technical details
> here, maybe a "Search in project classpath" option could be added?
> 
> If I understood him correctly, several customers are selecting NB or
> IntelliJ because of that complex Eclipse setup and I promised him to
> to ping the JDT developers about this.
> 
> Best regards, Lars
> -- 
> Eclipse Platform UI and e4 project co-lead
> CEO vogella GmbH
> 
> Haindaalwisch 17a, 22395 Hamburg
> Amtsgericht Hamburg: HRB 127058
> Geschäftsführer: Lars Vogel, Jennifer Nerlich de Vogel
> USt-IdNr.: DE284122352
> Fax (040) 5247 6322, Email: lars.vogel@xxxxxxxxxxx, Web:
> http://www.vogella.com
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