Re: [jdt-dev] Project Idea : Adoptium JDK Management Plugin Concept

[Daksh Sharma <dakshsharmab1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

Thank you very much for the thoughtful feedback — this is extremely helpful.

You are absolutely right that JDT already provides strong mechanisms for JDK discovery and configuration, and that tools like SDKMAN as well as plugins such as JRE Discovery already address parts of this space. I certainly do not want to duplicate existing functionality or replace system-level JDK managers.

Based on this discussion, I see the idea evolving into something more focused and complementary rather than overlapping. The potential differentiator would be:

- Direct integration with the official Adoptium API for version discovery

- Clear visibility of LTS vs non-LTS releases

- Awareness of Adoptium-specific release cadence

- A streamlined in-IDE download and registration flow using existing JDT mechanisms

- Optional security/update awareness for installed Temurin JDKs

In other words, not a general-purpose JDK manager, but a lightweight Adoptium-aware assistant that builds on JDT’s existing capabilities rather than replacing them.

If that still appears redundant given current tools, I would greatly appreciate guidance on whether narrowing the scope further (for example to preference-based integration only) would make more sense.

Thank you again for the valuable input.

Best regards,

Daksh Sharma

On Mon, 16 Feb, 2026, 9:50 pm Christoph Läubrich via jdt-dev, <jdt-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

A while ago I already implemented something similar in the context of
Tycho and it wasn't that hard (just in case you need some sample code).

In general this won't need much as you already can create new JDKs or
find existing ones, e.g. the AutodiscoveryJob or m2e already are doing
this, so it can be as simple as providing a new Preference Page to
manage what should be there.

That said, there are already a lot of tools out that allow you to manage
what is installed on your system (sdkman and alike) and JDT can already
discover those.

So the main question would be what is the main added benefit over such
existing tools that would make me use it an (Adoptium specific) eclipse
plugin instead of something like this:

https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/jre-discovery

Am 16.02.26 um 16:59 schrieb Daksh Sharma via jdt-dev:
> Hello JDT Community,
>
> I was encouraged by the Adoptium and IDE teams to reach out here for
> early feedback on a concept I am currently exploring. The idea has
> already been discussed on the Adoptium Incubator mailing list, and the
> suggestion was to gather early input from the JDT community as well.
>
> The concept is to develop a lightweight Eclipse plugin that assists
> users with discovering, downloading, and installing Eclipse Adoptium
> (Temurin) JDKs directly from within the IDE, and then registering them
> for use in Java projects.
>
> The intention is not to modify JDT internals, but rather to:
>
> - Leverage existing JDT mechanisms for JDK usage
> - Provide optional preferences/dialogs that help users obtain and
> configure JDKs more easily
> - Keep the plugin installable alongside JDT without requiring changes to
> JDT itself
>
> Before refining the proposal further, I wanted to ask:
>
> - Does this appear complementary to JDT’s existing functionality?
> - Are there scope considerations or existing efforts I should be aware of?
> - Would this be better positioned entirely as an external plugin rather
> than something closely aligned with JDT?
>
> I would greatly appreciate any early feedback or direction from the
> community.
>
> Thank you for your time.
>
> Best regards,
> Daksh Sharma
>
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