Eclipse Update servers

Jon Eaves of Thoughtworks was writing on managing Eclipse updates and how to preserve your environment between upgrades.

While this was an excellent guide to preserving your own environment, there’s a better way if you need to do this at a team or organisational level, and that’s by setting up an Eclipse Upgrade Server.

I’ve got one of these going at Suncorp, and while it was a little tricky, it wasn’t too hard (less than half a day’s worth of work). The biggest problem is that the GUI support in Eclipse assumes you’re only managing your own plugins, not setting up a local mirror site. This means you have to do a bit of the feature and plugin packaging by hand (a minor nuisance).

The article that inspired me to do this came from the Eclipse.org site and served as a reasonable amount of support.

Now, I have to stress: I wouldn’t bother doing this for an individual. Jon’s way is easier for a single person. But for a team, this makes it easy to restore plugins; you still have to manage the workspace, though. However, Eclipse 3.0M8 will have better support for changing workspaces (about time, too!)

Author: Robert Watkins

My name is Robert Watkins. I am a software developer and have been for over 20 years now. I currently work for people, but my opinions here are in no way endorsed by them (which is cool; their opinions aren’t endorsed by me either). My main professional interests are in Java development, using Agile methods, with a historical focus on building web based applications. I’m also a Mac-fan and love my iPhone, which I’m currently learning how to code for. I live and work in Brisbane, Australia, but I grew up in the Northern Territory, and still find Brisbane too cold (after 22 years here). I’m married, with two children and one cat. My politics are socialist in tendency, my religious affiliation is atheist (aka “none of the above”), my attitude is condescending and my moral standing is lying down. View all posts by Robert Watkins