Is there any way to make CDE installation easier?

[Adam Lally <al...@alum.rpi.edu>]

There was just a post on uima-user (which got resolved already) about
difficulting in getting the CDE to work.  This keeps coming up, and is
almost always an EMF installation problem.  In this case it was an
incorrect EMF version for the Eclipse version being used.  Is there
anything we can do to improve the situation?  Would making an Eclipse
"feature" or setting up an update site help at all?

-Adam

Re: Is there any way to make CDE installation easier?

[Thilo Goetz <tw...@gmx.de>]

Adam Lally wrote:
> There was just a post on uima-user (which got resolved already) about
> difficulting in getting the CDE to work.  This keeps coming up, and is
> almost always an EMF installation problem.  In this case it was an
> incorrect EMF version for the Eclipse version being used.  Is there
> anything we can do to improve the situation?  Would making an Eclipse
> "feature" or setting up an update site help at all?
> 
> -Adam

I had a similar conversation the other day.  One user suggested making a 
complete Eclipse/UIMA download available, all in one package.  I don't 
think we can host this on Apache, but we might be able to host it at a 
university.  Apparently, there are still people who have never used 
Eclipse before and find the whole setup somewhat daunting ;-)

--Thilo

Re: Is there any way to make CDE installation easier?

[Mirko Jahn <mi...@gmail.com>]

I am still not sure, if it works. I only read the documentation
without any samples supporting this. I want to test that first, before
making any promisses, but I think I can look into that next week.

Does anyone here have ever tried this before? I mean, we are probably
not the only ones, with such problems.

-- Mirko

On 6/5/07, Adam Lally <al...@alum.rpi.edu> wrote:
> On 4/28/07, Mirko Jahn <mi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > For using an update site with features, we don't need to change
> > anything in the existing plug-ins. We only need to create a new
> > feature (with the Eclipse Wizard) and point to the UIMA plug-ins. So
> > far so good.
> >
> > The only problem, as far as I know is, that we can't refer to
> > features, which are not part of our site within a feature as include.
> > But we can define dependencies on a particular EMF plugin/feature as
> > required (see: http://help.eclipse.org/help32/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/misc/feature_manifest.html).
> >
> > If I got it right from the spec of an update site
> > (http://help.eclipse.org/help32/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/misc/update_sitemap.html)
> > we can refer to external features by url. In that case, the "add
> > required" Button in Eclipse update manager should do the job in
> > finding all required plug-ins.
> >
> > I haven't tested that yet, but after a short look into the Eclipse
> > help, it looks like a possible way.
> >
> > -- Mirko
> >
>
> I wanted to bring this thread back to everyone's attention.  The idea
> of creating a new feature sounded promising.  Any chance we can get
> this done? (Mirko, would you be willing to submit a patch?)  The
> difficulty of installing our plugins and the right EMF version
> continues to bite us.
>
> -Adam
>

Re: Is there any way to make CDE installation easier?

[Adam Lally <al...@alum.rpi.edu>]

On 4/28/07, Mirko Jahn <mi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> For using an update site with features, we don't need to change
> anything in the existing plug-ins. We only need to create a new
> feature (with the Eclipse Wizard) and point to the UIMA plug-ins. So
> far so good.
>
> The only problem, as far as I know is, that we can't refer to
> features, which are not part of our site within a feature as include.
> But we can define dependencies on a particular EMF plugin/feature as
> required (see: http://help.eclipse.org/help32/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/misc/feature_manifest.html).
>
> If I got it right from the spec of an update site
> (http://help.eclipse.org/help32/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/misc/update_sitemap.html)
> we can refer to external features by url. In that case, the "add
> required" Button in Eclipse update manager should do the job in
> finding all required plug-ins.
>
> I haven't tested that yet, but after a short look into the Eclipse
> help, it looks like a possible way.
>
> -- Mirko
>

I wanted to bring this thread back to everyone's attention.  The idea
of creating a new feature sounded promising.  Any chance we can get
this done? (Mirko, would you be willing to submit a patch?)  The
difficulty of installing our plugins and the right EMF version
continues to bite us.

-Adam

Re: Is there any way to make CDE installation easier?

[Mirko Jahn <mi...@gmail.com>]

For using an update site with features, we don't need to change
anything in the existing plug-ins. We only need to create a new
feature (with the Eclipse Wizard) and point to the UIMA plug-ins. So
far so good.

The only problem, as far as I know is, that we can't refer to
features, which are not part of our site within a feature as include.
But we can define dependencies on a particular EMF plugin/feature as
required (see: http://help.eclipse.org/help32/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/misc/feature_manifest.html).

If I got it right from the spec of an update site
(http://help.eclipse.org/help32/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/misc/update_sitemap.html)
we can refer to external features by url. In that case, the "add
required" Button in Eclipse update manager should do the job in
finding all required plug-ins.

I haven't tested that yet, but after a short look into the Eclipse
help, it looks like a possible way.

-- Mirko

On 4/28/07, Marshall Schor <ms...@schor.com> wrote:
> I'm wondering if the following would work:
>
> 1) convert the UIMA plugins to features, and make the features depend on
> EMF.  This is already a Jira issue, which no one has picked up to work
> on (http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/UIMA-74 ).
>
> 2) only document the method of install which requires use of Eclipse
> Update Manager.
>
> -Marshall
>
> Mirko Jahn wrote:
> > Yes, I agree with Tong. Even if it is not possible to host such a site
> > in the web, it is possible to distribute the bundles as a locale
> > update site, as some other project already does it. In that case, in
> > my point of view the installation becomes more reliable and easier
> > from the userperspective.
> >
> > -- Mirko
> >
> > On 4/27/07, Tong Fin <to...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> The difficulty of the installation comes from 2 sources:
> >> 1. CDE tries to support many versions of Eclipse
> >> 2. No checking of compatible version between Eclipse and EMF
> >>
> >> The above problem continues to pop-up forever !
> >>
> >> One approach is to try to use Eclipse Update Manager (as mentionned
> >> by Adam)
> >> to check the conflict.
> >>
> >> -- Tong
> >>
> >> On 4/27/07, Michael Baessler <mb...@michael-baessler.de> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Adam Lally wrote:
> >> > > There was just a post on uima-user (which got resolved already)
> >> about
> >> > > difficulting in getting the CDE to work.  This keeps coming up,
> >> and is
> >> > > almost always an EMF installation problem.  In this case it was an
> >> > > incorrect EMF version for the Eclipse version being used.  Is there
> >> > > anything we can do to improve the situation?  Would making an
> >> Eclipse
> >> > > "feature" or setting up an update site help at all?
> >> > >
> >> > > -Adam
> >> > >
> >> > >
> >> > Why can't we provide a list of eclipse versions we have tested with
> >> the
> >> > corresponding EMF versions? So if users do a clean install of eclipse
> >> > and EMF they can install the versions that work together correctly. Or
> >> > we post a link to
> >> > http://www.eclipse.org/modeling/emf/downloads/?project=emf where users
> >> > can find the correct EMF version for their eclipse.
> >> >
> >> > -- Michael
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >
> >
>
>

Re: Is there any way to make CDE installation easier?

[Marshall Schor <ms...@schor.com>]

I'm wondering if the following would work: 

1) convert the UIMA plugins to features, and make the features depend on 
EMF.  This is already a Jira issue, which no one has picked up to work 
on (http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/UIMA-74 ).

2) only document the method of install which requires use of Eclipse 
Update Manager.
   
-Marshall

Mirko Jahn wrote:
> Yes, I agree with Tong. Even if it is not possible to host such a site
> in the web, it is possible to distribute the bundles as a locale
> update site, as some other project already does it. In that case, in
> my point of view the installation becomes more reliable and easier
> from the userperspective.
>
> -- Mirko
>
> On 4/27/07, Tong Fin <to...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> The difficulty of the installation comes from 2 sources:
>> 1. CDE tries to support many versions of Eclipse
>> 2. No checking of compatible version between Eclipse and EMF
>>
>> The above problem continues to pop-up forever !
>>
>> One approach is to try to use Eclipse Update Manager (as mentionned 
>> by Adam)
>> to check the conflict.
>>
>> -- Tong
>>
>> On 4/27/07, Michael Baessler <mb...@michael-baessler.de> wrote:
>> >
>> > Adam Lally wrote:
>> > > There was just a post on uima-user (which got resolved already) 
>> about
>> > > difficulting in getting the CDE to work.  This keeps coming up, 
>> and is
>> > > almost always an EMF installation problem.  In this case it was an
>> > > incorrect EMF version for the Eclipse version being used.  Is there
>> > > anything we can do to improve the situation?  Would making an 
>> Eclipse
>> > > "feature" or setting up an update site help at all?
>> > >
>> > > -Adam
>> > >
>> > >
>> > Why can't we provide a list of eclipse versions we have tested with 
>> the
>> > corresponding EMF versions? So if users do a clean install of eclipse
>> > and EMF they can install the versions that work together correctly. Or
>> > we post a link to
>> > http://www.eclipse.org/modeling/emf/downloads/?project=emf where users
>> > can find the correct EMF version for their eclipse.
>> >
>> > -- Michael
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>

Re: Is there any way to make CDE installation easier?

[Mirko Jahn <mi...@gmail.com>]

Yes, I agree with Tong. Even if it is not possible to host such a site
in the web, it is possible to distribute the bundles as a locale
update site, as some other project already does it. In that case, in
my point of view the installation becomes more reliable and easier
from the userperspective.

-- Mirko

On 4/27/07, Tong Fin <to...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The difficulty of the installation comes from 2 sources:
> 1. CDE tries to support many versions of Eclipse
> 2. No checking of compatible version between Eclipse and EMF
>
> The above problem continues to pop-up forever !
>
> One approach is to try to use Eclipse Update Manager (as mentionned by Adam)
> to check the conflict.
>
> -- Tong
>
> On 4/27/07, Michael Baessler <mb...@michael-baessler.de> wrote:
> >
> > Adam Lally wrote:
> > > There was just a post on uima-user (which got resolved already) about
> > > difficulting in getting the CDE to work.  This keeps coming up, and is
> > > almost always an EMF installation problem.  In this case it was an
> > > incorrect EMF version for the Eclipse version being used.  Is there
> > > anything we can do to improve the situation?  Would making an Eclipse
> > > "feature" or setting up an update site help at all?
> > >
> > > -Adam
> > >
> > >
> > Why can't we provide a list of eclipse versions we have tested with the
> > corresponding EMF versions? So if users do a clean install of eclipse
> > and EMF they can install the versions that work together correctly. Or
> > we post a link to
> > http://www.eclipse.org/modeling/emf/downloads/?project=emf where users
> > can find the correct EMF version for their eclipse.
> >
> > -- Michael
> >
> >
>

Re: Is there any way to make CDE installation easier?

[Tong Fin <to...@gmail.com>]

The difficulty of the installation comes from 2 sources:
1. CDE tries to support many versions of Eclipse
2. No checking of compatible version between Eclipse and EMF

The above problem continues to pop-up forever !

One approach is to try to use Eclipse Update Manager (as mentionned by Adam)
to check the conflict.

-- Tong

On 4/27/07, Michael Baessler <mb...@michael-baessler.de> wrote:
>
> Adam Lally wrote:
> > There was just a post on uima-user (which got resolved already) about
> > difficulting in getting the CDE to work.  This keeps coming up, and is
> > almost always an EMF installation problem.  In this case it was an
> > incorrect EMF version for the Eclipse version being used.  Is there
> > anything we can do to improve the situation?  Would making an Eclipse
> > "feature" or setting up an update site help at all?
> >
> > -Adam
> >
> >
> Why can't we provide a list of eclipse versions we have tested with the
> corresponding EMF versions? So if users do a clean install of eclipse
> and EMF they can install the versions that work together correctly. Or
> we post a link to
> http://www.eclipse.org/modeling/emf/downloads/?project=emf where users
> can find the correct EMF version for their eclipse.
>
> -- Michael
>
>

Re: Is there any way to make CDE installation easier?

[Michael Baessler <mb...@michael-baessler.de>]

Adam Lally wrote:
> There was just a post on uima-user (which got resolved already) about
> difficulting in getting the CDE to work.  This keeps coming up, and is
> almost always an EMF installation problem.  In this case it was an
> incorrect EMF version for the Eclipse version being used.  Is there
> anything we can do to improve the situation?  Would making an Eclipse
> "feature" or setting up an update site help at all?
>
> -Adam
>
>
Why can't we provide a list of eclipse versions we have tested with the 
corresponding EMF versions? So if users do a clean install of eclipse 
and EMF they can install the versions that work together correctly. Or 
we post a link to 
http://www.eclipse.org/modeling/emf/downloads/?project=emf where users 
can find the correct EMF version for their eclipse.

-- Michael