An Eclipse feature project contains features. A feature has a name, version number, a software license and contains a list of plug-ins and other features which can be understood as a logical unit.

A feature is described via a feature.xml file in the Eclipse feature project.

Features are used by the Eclipse update manager, the build process and optionally for the definition of Eclipse products. Features can also be used as the basis for a launch configuration.

Eclipse provides several predefined features, e.g. org.eclipse.rcp for Eclipse 3.x based RCP applications or org.eclipse.e4.rcp for Eclipse 4 based RCP applications.

You can create a new feature project via the following menu path: File → New → Other... → Plug-in Development → Feature Project.

If you open the feature.xml file you can change the feature properties via a special editor.

The Plug-ins tab allows you to change the included plug-ins in the feature.

The feature.xml file is a simple text file. For example the file might look like the following in a text editor.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<feature
      id="de.vogella.featuretest.feature"
      label="Feature"
      version="1.0.0.qualifier">

   <description url="http://www.example.com/description">
      [Enter Feature Description here.]
   </description>

   <copyright url="http://www.example.com/copyright">
      [Enter Copyright Description here.]
   </copyright>

   <license url="http://www.example.com/license">
      [Enter License Description here.]
   </license>

   <plugin
         id="de.vogella.featuretest.testplugin"
         download-size="0"
         install-size="0"
         version="0.0.0"
         unpack="false"/>

</feature> 

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