The document discusses p2, the new provisioning system for Eclipse. P2 was created to address limitations with the existing Update Manager, such as only being able to install plugins and features and not being able to customize installations. P2 allows installing any installable units, including plugins, files and applications. It uses a metadata repository to describe installable units and their dependencies. P2 provides benefits for developers, ISVs and end users such as optimized updating, shared plugins across installations, and automatic updates.

1. p2
The new Eclipse
provisioning system
© Anyware Technologies-All Right Reserved
Benjamin Cabé
Anyware Technologies

2. Agenda
• p2, what's that?
►Origins
►Concepts
►Architecture overview
• Using p2
►As a developer
© Anyware Technologies-All Right Reserved
►As an ISV
►As an end-user
• Coming next (Galileo plan)
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

3. The origins : the « Update Manager »
• Assessment
►The plug-in mechanism just rocks...
►... but installing or updating plug-ins by hand is
cumbersome
• Since Eclipse 2.1: the « Update Manager »
►allows to install & update « features » through GUI...
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►... which is way too messy for 99% of users
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

4. Update Manager's limitations
• The feature doesn't fit all needs...
►deliver a product in different but very similar
shapes?
►install more than just plug-ins & features?
• ...neither does the update site
►ship features through different mirrors?
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►allow the end-user to perform the « initial »
provisioning?
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

5. Here comes p2!
• Reworked UI
►simplified workflow
►better performances
• Provision the world!
►plug-ins, .exe, .ini, ... whatever
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• A very modular framework
►provision more than just Eclipse
stuff
►controllable from the outside
“If it can be installed, it runs!”
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

6. Key features
• Optimized updates & installs
►multithreaded downloads
►best mirror automatically picked
• “Bundle pooling”
►shared plug-ins across many Eclipse instances
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• Low-level provisioning APIs
►headless mode
►update a non-running instance
• Installer
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

7. The concepts
• Installable Unit :
►the description of what is being installed
►ID, version
►dependencies
►actions to perform during install / uninstall / ...
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►physical artifacts (optional)
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

8. The concepts (2)
• Installable Units are stored in a
metadata repository
• The actual content (plug-ins, zips, ...) lives in an
© Anyware Technologies-All Right Reserved
artifact repository
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

9. Useful terminology
• Profile
►the target of the installed
stuff
• Planner
►the entity that converts a
list of IUs to install in a
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given profile into
provisioning steps
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

10. Useful terminology (2)
• Engine
►the mechanism for
executing provisioning
requests
• Touchpoint
►the part of the engine
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that actually integrates
the provisioning system in
a given platform
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

11. « Big Picture »
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Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

12. Using p2... as an Eclipse developer
• Save hundreds of Mb
thanks to bundle pooling
• Describe a well-defined,
reproducible, development
environment
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• Use the dropins folder to
perform quick installs
• Manage target platforms
elegantly
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

13. Using p2... as an ISV
• Deliver an installer on a
CD or an USB key
• Propose different
flavours of your product
depending on the
customer
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• Deploy a mirror in your
customer's information
system
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

14. Using p2... as an end-user
• Get automatic updates
• Enjoy a clean
uninstalling process
• Get annoyed by some
bugs or missing
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documentation but...
• ...Just relax!
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

15. Coming next
• A real p2 API
• User interaction
►improve progress/error reporting
►tighter desktop integration (shortcuts, registry keys, ...)
• Tooling / Authoring
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►IU editor
►Repository editors (artifact & metadata)
• IBM, Cloudsmith, Siemens AG, Genuitec, Anyware
Technologies... YOU!
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

16. Useful resources
• The Eclipse wiki:
►http://wiki.eclipse.org/Equinox_p2
• The p2 newsgroup (general issues)
►news://news.eclipse.org/eclipse.technology.equinox
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• The p2-dev mailing list (technical questions)
►https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/p2-dev
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

17. Thank you!
Benjamin Cabé
Eclipse Expert
<benjamin.cabe@anyware-tech.com>
© Anyware Technologies-All Right Reserved
http://blog.benjamin-cabe.com
http://www.anyware-tech.com
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

18. Legal notices
• Eclipse and the Eclipse logo are trademarks of
Eclipse Foundation, Inc.
• OSGi is a registered trademark of the OSGi Alliance
in the United States, other countries or both.
• Other company, product, or service names may be
© Anyware Technologies-All Right Reserved
trademarks or service marks of others
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence

19. Photo & Illustration credits
• Michal Zacharzewski
► http://www.sxc.hu/photo/953139
• G Schouten de Jel
► http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1090308
• Andrej Sevelin
► http://www.sxc.hu/photo/892243
• Dave Di Biase
► http://www.sxc.hu/photo/204676
© Anyware Technologies-All Right Reserved
• dunkv@flickr
► http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunkv/97119622
• Cathy Kaplan
► http://www.sxc.hu/photo/283374
• Mac Pale
► http://www.sxc.hu/photo/956527
Copyright © 2008 Anyware Technologies, Made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non commercial-No derivative 2.0 licence