[p2-dev] P2 API, Java 1.5?

[Thomas Hallgren <thomas@xxxxxxx>]

Hi,
What's the position in the P2 camp when it comes to Java 1.5 compliance? The reason I ask is that we (Henrik and myself) 
are considering using p2 functionality in b3 but we don't want to inherit interfaces that are not compliant with 1.5. We 
know that there are issues with the small devices community but there are also solutions:

1. Remain on Eclipse 3.5.x for those devices that still linger on 1.4
2. Down compile to 1.4 when porting to such devices

Java 1.4.2 reached the end of its EOL period last year and I'm concerned that if you don't make the transition in time 
for 3.6, then it will never happen. P2 is very modern and well designed. It would be a pity (my own reflection) if it 
didn't come with an equally modern API.

There are several reasons why we would like help make the transition happen:

1. It would enable us to derive some of our interfaces directly from the p2 interfaces and thus, enable use of the P2 
engine (possible the resolver too for some things).
2. If the current arrays that are returned by many methods were replaced by typed (read-only) collections, the API would 
map much better to an EMF ecore model.
3. Mutable objects, used for authoring, could use the same interface. Today, a full set of similar interfaces are required.

Having worked with Java 1.5 for several years now, I see a lot of other advantages as well. I blogged about that a while 
back: http://thhal.blogspot.com/2008/05/transition-agony.html

Kind Regards,
Thomas Hallgren