Project Plan For Eclipse Project, version 2020-12

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Release Deliverables
• Release Milestones
• Target Environments
• Compatibility with Previous Releases
• Themes and Priorities

Last revised 9:20 EDT November 3, 2020.

Please send comments about this plan to the eclipse-dev@eclipse.org developer mailing list.

This document lays out the feature and API set for the next feature release of the Eclipse SDK after 4.17, designated release 4.18 and code-named 2020-12.

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, we (the Eclipse Project PMC) post plans in an embryonic form and revise them 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 all of the sub-projects under the top level Eclipse Project. Each plan item covers a feature or API that is to be added to the Eclipse Project deliverables, or some aspect of the Eclipse Project 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 component; others may involve coordinated changes to several components; other may pervade the entire SDK. Although some plan items are for work that is more pressing than 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.

The release deliverables have the same form as previous releases, namely:

• Source code release for all Eclipse Project deliverables, available as versions tagged "R4_18" in the Eclipse Project Git repositories.
• Eclipse SDK (runtime binary and SDK for Equinox, Platform, JDT, and PDE) (downloadable).
• Eclipse Equinox (runtime and source repositories) (downloadable).
• Eclipse Platform (runtime and source repositories) (downloadable).
• Eclipse RCP (runtime and source repositories for the Rich Client Platform) (downloadable).
• Eclipse JDT (runtime and source repositories for the Java Development Tooling) (downloadable).
• Eclipse PDE (runtime and source repositories for the Plug-in Development Environment) (downloadable).
• Eclipse SDK Examples (downloadable).
• SWT distribution (downloadable).

Our target is to complete 4.18 in December 2020. All release deliverables will be available for download as soon as the release has been tested and validated in the target operating configurations listed below.

PMC approval is required for API changes and additions after M3.

Dates for builds and test passes after M3 will be available in the Eclipse 4.18 Endgame Plan. Eclipse 4.18 Endgame Plan.

In order to remain current, each Eclipse Project release targets reasonably current operating environments.

Most of the Eclipse SDK is "pure" Java code and has no direct dependence on the underlying operating system. The chief dependence is therefore on the Java Platform itself. Portions are targeted to specific classes of operating environments, requiring their source code to only reference facilities available in particular class libraries (e.g. Java 5, Java 6, etc).

In general, the 4.18 release of the Eclipse Project is developed on Java SE 11 VMs. As such, the Eclipse SDK as a whole is targeted at all modern, desktop Java VMs. Most functionality is available for Java SE 11 level development everywhere, and extended development capabilities are made available on the VMs that support them.

There are many different implementations of the Java Platform running atop a variety of operating systems. We focus our testing on a handful of popular combinations of operating system and Java 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 a 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.

Eclipse 4.18 is tested and validated on the following reference platforms (this list is updated over the course of the release cycle):

As stated above, we expect that Eclipse works fine on other current Java VM and OS versions but we cannot flag these as reference platforms without significant community support for testing them.

With respect to GTK 3 versions: the required version of GTK 3 which Eclipse SDK 4.18 will run on is 3.20 or newer.

With respect to GTK 3 themes: Adwaita theme is guaranteed to work. Eclipse SDK will run with other GTK 3 themes, however we cannot flag these as reference versions without significant community support for testing and/or development of fixes. Bugs that are reproducible only with themes other than Adwaita will be given a lower priority (or may not be fixed at all), compared to bugs which are reproducible on the target environments listed above.

Compatibility of Release 4.18 with 4.17

Eclipse 4.18 will be compatible with Eclipse 4.17 (and all earlier 3.x versions).

API Contract Compatibility: Eclipse SDK 4.18 will be upwards contract-compatible with Eclipse SDK 4.17 except in those areas noted in the Eclipse 4.18 Plug-in Migration Guide . Programs that use affected APIs and extension points will need to be ported to Eclipse SDK 4.18 APIs. Downward contract compatibility is not supported. There is no guarantee that compliance with Eclipse SDK 4.18 APIs would ensure compliance with Eclipse SDK 4.17 APIs. Refer to Evolving Java-based APIs for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain contract compatibility.

Binary (plug-in) Compatibility: Eclipse SDK 4.18 will be upwards binary-compatible with Eclipse SDK 4.16 except in those areas noted in the Eclipse 4.18 Plug-in Migration Guide . Downward plug-in compatibility is not supported. Plug-ins for Eclipse SDK 4.18 will not be usable in Eclipse SDK 4.17. Refer to Evolving Java-based APIs for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain binary compatibility.

Source Compatibility: Eclipse SDK 4.18 will be upwards source-compatible with Eclipse SDK 4.17 except in the areas noted in the Eclipse 4.18 Plug-in Migration Guide . This means that source files written to use Eclipse SDK 4.17 APIs might successfully compile and run against Eclipse SDK 4.18 APIs, although this is not guaranteed. Downward source compatibility is not supported. If source files use new Eclipse SDK APIs, they will not be usable with an earlier version of the Eclipse SDK.

Workspace Compatibility: Eclipse SDK 4.18 will be upwards workspace-compatible with earlier 3.x and 4.x versions of the Eclipse SDK unless noted. This means that workspaces and projects created with Eclipse SDK 4.17, 4.16, 4.15, 4.14, .. 3.0 can be successfully opened by Eclipse SDK 4.18 and upgraded to a 4.18 workspace. This includes both hidden metadata, which is localized to a particular workspace, as well as metadata files found within a workspace project (e.g., the .project file), which may propagate between workspaces via file copying or team repositories. Individual plug-ins developed for Eclipse SDK 4.18 should provide similar upwards compatibility for their hidden and visible workspace metadata created by earlier versions; 4.18 plug-in developers are responsible for ensuring that their plug-ins recognize metadata from earlier versions and process it appropriately. User interface session state may be discarded when a workspace is upgraded. Downward workspace compatibility is not supported. A workspace created (or opened) by a product based on Eclipse 4.18 will be unusable with a product based on an earlier version of Eclipse. Visible metadata files created (or overwritten) by Eclipse 4.18 will generally be unusable with earlier versions of Eclipse.

Non-compliant usage of API's: All non-API methods and classes, and certainly everything in a package with "internal" in its name or x-internal in the bundle manifest entry, 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 Eclipse SDK API are inherently unsupportable and receive no guarantees about compatibility within a single release much less with earlier releases. Refer to How to Use the Eclipse API for information about how to write compliant plug-ins.

Each plan item listed in the sub-project plans covers a feature or API that is to be added to the Eclipse Project deliverables, or some aspect of the Eclipse Project 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 entails.

Although there are three mature projects under the top-level Eclipse Project, there is a significant amount of commonality and shared effort between them. In general, many plan items involve coordinated changes to multiple components, and thus attempting to separate the items into sections based on sub-project leads to artificial distinctions between them (e.g., Platform UI vs. JDT UI, Platform Debug vs. JDT Debug, etc.). As such, this plan covers the work of all mature sub-projects under the top level Eclipse Project.

Not all plan items represent the same amount of work; some may be quite large, others, quite small. Although some plan items are for work that is more pressing than others, the plan items appear in no particular order. See the corresponding bugzilla items for up-to-date status information on ongoing work and planned delivery milestones.