Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF)
Draft 2.3.0 Plans
Including XML Schema Definition (XSD) framework
Last revised $Date: 2008/05/21 20:09:05 $ (
marks interesting changes over a previous revision of this
document). This document previously referred to EMF 3.0.0, but that release has been renumbered to 2.3.0.
Please send comments about this draft plan to the eclipse.tools.emf or eclipse.technology.xsd newsgroup, as applicable.
This document lays out the feature and API set for the next feature release of the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) project (which includes XSD) after 2.2.0, designated releases 2.3.0.
- Release deliverables
- Release milestones
- Target operating environments
- Compatibility with previous releases
- Themes / Plan Items
- EMF and XSD Project
Plans do not materialize out of nowhere, nor are they entirely static. To ensure the planning process is transparent and open to the entire Eclipse community, plans are posted in an embryonic form and then revised from time to time throughout the release cycle.
The first part of the plan deals with the important matters of release deliverables, release milestones, target operating environments, and release-to-release compatibility. These are all things that need to be clear for any release, even if no features were to change.
The remainder of the plan consists of plan items for the projects under the EMF and XSD projects. Each plan item covers a feature or API that is to be added, or some aspect that is to be improved. Each plan item has its own entry in the Eclipse bugzilla database, with a title and a concise summary (usually a single paragraph) that explains the work item at a suitably high enough level so that everyone can readily understand what the work item is without having to understand the nitty-gritty detail.
Not all plan items represent the same amount of work; some may be quite large, others, quite small. Some plan items may involve work that is localized to a single subsystem; others may involve coordinated changes across several projects within the same top-level project; and others may involve coordination with other top-level projects. Although some plan items are for work that is more pressing that others, the plan items appear in no particular order.
With the previous release as the starting point, this is the plan for how we will enhance and improve it. Fixing bugs, improving test coverage, documentation, examples, performance tuning, usability, etc. are considered routine ongoing maintenance activities and are not included in this plan unless they would also involve a significant change to the API or feature set, or involve a significant amount of work. The intent of the plan is to account for all interesting feature work.
Release Deliverables
The release deliverables are:
- Source code release for EMF and XSD is available in the eclipse.org CVS repositories for EMF and XSD .
- EMF and XSD runtime binaries and SDK distributions (downloadable).
- EMF and XSD runtime binaries and SDK features on eclipse.org update site (install via Eclipse update manager).
Release Milestones
EMF and XSD builds are available weekly as Integration builds. EMF Milestone Releases are one business day after the Eclipse Milestone Releases (forthcoming) .
Following the final milestone, release candidates will begin. EMF Release Candidates are planned to be released one business day after each Eclipse Release Candidate (forthcoming) . This convergence is required to meet the goals of the Europa Simultaneous Release (forthcoming).
Scheduled release candidates should end in 2007Q2, and beyond that point, will be produced only as needed, leading up to a release in late 2007Q2.
Target Operating Environments
In order to remain current, each release of an Eclipse project targets reasonably current versions of underlying operating environments and other Eclipse projects on which it depends.
Most of Eclipse is "pure" Java TM code and has no direct dependence on the underlying operating system. The chief dependence is on the Eclipse Platform, and on the Java 2 Platform that runs it.
The EMF and XSD 2.3.0 releases depend on the following:
- Java 2 Platform 5.0
- Eclipse Platform 3.3.0
The 2.3.0 releases of EMF and XSD are designed to run on any configuration supporting the above components.
The Eclipse Platform runs in a variety of operating environments. Testing is focused on a handful of popular combinations of operating system and Java 2 Platform; these are our reference platforms. Eclipse undoubtedly runs fine in many operating environments beyond the reference platforms we test. However, since we do not systematically test them we cannot vouch for them. Problems encountered when running Eclipse on non-reference platform that cannot be recreated on any reference platform will be given lower priority than problems with running Eclipse on a reference platform.
See the Eclipse Project 3.3 plan (forthcoming) for a list of reference platforms.
Internationalization
Eclipse is designed as the basis for internationalized products. The user interface elements provided by the various Eclipse projects, including dialogs and error messages, are externalized. The English strings for EMF and XSD are provided as the default resource bundles. Translations are not provided with this release. However, the plug-in fragment mechanism provides the means by which translations into any number of other languages can be incorporated.
Compatibility with Previous Releases
Compatibility of Release 2.3.0 with 2.2.0
EMF and XSD 2.3.0 will be compatible with EMF and XSD 2.2.0, except in those areas noted in the EMF and XSD 2.3.0 Migration Guide. .
API Contract Compatibility: EMF and XSD 2.3.0 will be upwards contract-compatible with EMF and XSD 2.2.0 except in those areas noted in the EMF and XSD 2.3.0 Migration Guide. Programs that use affected APIs and extension points will need to be ported to EMF and XSD 2.3.0 APIs. Downward contract compatibility is not supported. There is no guarantee that compliance with EMF and XSD 2.3.0 APIs would ensure compliance with EMF and XSD 1.x APIs. Refer to Evolving Java-based APIs for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain contract compatibility.
Binary (plug-in) Compatibility: EMF and XSD 2.3.0 will be upwards binary-compatible with EMF and XSD 2.2.0 except in those areas noted in the EMF and XSD 2.3.0 Migration Guide. Downward plug-in compatibility is not supported: plug-ins compiled against EMF and XSD 2.3.0 will likely be unusable with EMF and XSD 1.x. Refer to Evolving Java-based APIs for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain binary compatibility.
Source Compatibility: Source files written to use EMF and XSD 2.2.0 APIs will usually compile and run successfully against EMF and XSD 2.3.0 APIs, although this cannot be guaranteed. Because EMF 2.3.0 will exploit new Java language constructs, there is an increased chance of source incompatibilities compared to previous EMF releases. In some cases, it may be necessary to make minor changes to the source code to disambiguate things like imports or overloaded method invocations. Downward source compatibility is not supported. If source files use new APIs, they will not be usable with earlier versions.
Workspace Compatibility: EMF and XSD 2.3.0 will be upwards workspace-compatible with EMF and XSD 2.2.0 unless noted. This means that workspaces and projects created by an Eclipse with EMF and XSD 2.2.0 installed can be successfully opened by an Eclipse with EMF and XSD 2.3.0 installed. This includes both hidden metadata, which is localized to a particular workspace, as well as metadata files found within a workspace project, which may propagate between workspaces via file copying or team repositories. User interface session state may be discarded when a workspace is upgraded. Downward workspace compatibility is not supported. Metadata files created (or overwritten) by the newer version will generally be unusable with older versions.
Non-compliant usage of API's: All non-API methods and classes, and certainly everything in a package with "internal" in its name, are considered implementation details which may vary between operating environment and are subject to change without notice. Client plug-ins that directly depend on anything other than what is specified in the API are inherently unsupportable and receive no guarantees about compatibility within a single release much less with an earlier releases. Refer to How to Use the Eclipse API for information about how to write compliant plug-ins.
EMF and XSD 2.3.0 Migration Guide
At this time, there are no known issues migrating from 2.2.0 to 2.3.0. Should this change, this document will be revised, or a secondary document will be added documenting any known issues.
Themes
The changes under consideration for the next release of
Eclipse EMF and XSD address a few major themes:
- Built To Last - EMF and XSD has always been a framework for delivering integrated modeling tools. With a growing base of both free and commercial offerings based on EMF and XSD, it's critical for continued success to maintain API stability, to ensure that the framework scales well, and to keep pace with the Java language. This theme includes work to measure and improve the performance and scalability of EMF and XSD resources.
- Simple To Use - The EMF and XSD framework needs to not only provide the features that advanced developers demand, but also be something that most developers find simple to use. This theme includes ease-of-use reviews of existing features, and work that helps make EMF and XSD-based products simple to use for developers with widely-varying backgrounds and skill sets.
- Release Currency - Modeling projects will maintain release currency concurrent with 3.x releases. For EMF and XSD 2.3.0, this means currency with Eclipse 3.3.0 and Java SE 5.0.
- Modeling Project Integration - Facilitate and participate in integration & re-use of build and release infrastructure and web content across subprojects. Promote development of a community around modeling technologies at Eclipse.
Additionally, the following plan items have been proposed.
- Java SE 5.0 Support - exploit new Java language constructs; use generics (e.g. EList, EMap and implementations); generate and merge Java 5 constructs; investigate enumerations and annotations
- Ecore Constraints - define and validate constraints on user-defined Ecore models
- XSD2Ecore Enhancements - improve ability to record complex content models as Ecore annotations
- JET Unification - adopt JET2 in code generation tools
- Build & Web Infrastructure Improvements - refresh website to new Phoenix skin, reorganize EMF into features, integrate select EMFT projects into EMF, and continue to improve and automate build and release processes
- Performance - continued performance monitoring and enhancement
The current status of each plan item is noted:
- Plan Item items - a Plan Item that we have decided to address for the release. To see all committed items - see "committed" items
- Committed items - A committed bug is one that we have decided to address for the release.
- Proposed items - A bug item is one that we are considering addressing for the release. Although we are actively investigating it, we are not yet in a position to commit to it, or to say that we won't be able to address it. After due consideration, a proposal will either be committed or deferred.
- Deferred items - A reasonable proposal that will not make it in to this release for some reason is marked as deferred with a brief note as to why it was deferred. Deferred plan items may resurface as committed plan items at a later point.
EMF and XSD Project
Plan items reflect new features of the EMF and XSD project, or areas where existing features will be significantly reworked.
Plan Items
The Plan Item Bugzillas:
Committed Items
Bugzillas with a target milestone set are committed to that release. For the most current list of these items, see the following links:
2.3.0 release:
Proposed Items
Bugzillas without a specific target milestone are proposed, but not committed for a particular release. This list also includes Bugzillas that were proposed for older releases but have not yet been addressed. For the most current list of these items, see the following links:
Deferred Items
Bugzillas assigned to the non-specific target of 'Future' are deferred, and not scheduled for a particular release. For the most current list of these items, see the following link:
Note that for the links above, you may need to reset your browser's bugs.eclipse.org cookie(s) in order to see all the appropriate columns.