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This tutorial describes the usage of the Maven Tycho plug-in to build plug-ins, bundles and Eclipse RCP applications. It uses Tycho is version 1.3.0.

1. Pre-requirements for this tutorial
2. Using Maven Tycho to build Eclipse components
- 2.1. High level overview of Tycho
- 2.2. Defining the dependencies for the build
3. Executing plug-in unit tests with Tycho
4. Exercise: Configure Tycho build
5. Exercise: Tycho build for plug-ins
6. Exercise: Tycho build for Eclipse features
7. Exercise: Tycho build for update sites
8. Exercise: Tycho build for products
9. Exercise: Tycho build for products with root files
10. Exercise: Using a target platform for the build
11. Exercise: Tycho build for test plug-ins
12. Exercise: Tycho build for SWTBot tests
13. More Tycho settings
14. Tycho and m2e
15. Automatic deployment of a p2 update site with Maven
16. Deploy p2 updatesite to Nexus
17. Eclipse Tycho resources
18. vogella training and consulting support
Appendix A: Copyright, License and Source code

1. Pre-requirements for this tutorial

This tutorial assumes that you are familiar with Eclipse plug-ins and RCP development. Check Eclipse Plug-in Tutorial and Eclipse RCP Tutorial to learn about it.

For a description how to install and use Maven on the command line see Apache Maven tutorial.

2. Using Maven Tycho to build Eclipse components

2.1. High level overview of Tycho

Tycho is a set of Maven plug-ins for building Eclipse components. Tycho supports building Eclipse plug-ins, features and products, OSGi bundles, and p2 update sites. Tycho uses the Eclipse components metadata as much as possible.

A Tycho build is configured via pom.xml Maven configuration file.

To start a Tycho build, you can use the mvn clean verify command.

# run this inside the directory of your build
mvn clean verify

In a typically build setup you have a pom file for the build configuration (configuration pom). Another pom file would list the components (modules) relevant for the build (main pom).

Tycho allows to generate default pom files based on the existing Eclipse metadata. A Eclipse component also have its specialized pom file. This is based on the Maven polyglot functionality introduced with Maven 3.3.1.

To have some separation of the plug-ins a good practice is to have separate folders on the file system for them.

In a Tycho build it is good practice to create a configuration pom file. This file includes the Tycho plug-ins and the definition of the build environment. This pom file describes the general configuration. The folder which contains this build file is typically releng for Release Engineering.

In addition you create an aggregator build file which lists all Eclipse components which should be built as modules. The aggregator includes the configuration pom file as parent.

And the pom files in the different Eclipse projects contain primary the nature of the component (feature, plug-in, product, update site) and the version number from the MANIFEST.MF.

2.2. Defining the dependencies for the build

By default, all components included in the build are available to resolve dependencies. For additional dependencies, you need to specify where these dependencies can be found. This can be done via:

the specification of p2 update sites in the pom.xml file or
the specification of a target platform which should be used for the build in the pom.xml file

If you specify a p2 update site as target, the whole content of all defined p2 repositories becomes part of the target platform. If you want to make a p2 update site available in the build add the following snippet to your pom.xml configuration file.

 <repositories>
    <repository>
      <id>eclipse-mars</id>
      <url>http://download.eclipse.org/releases/2019-03</url>
      <layout>p2</layout>
    </repository>
  </repositories>

Tycho uses a target platform to find dependencies. If a target definition is used in the project for development, the build should also use this instead of using a whole repository.

Tycho only supports Software Sites as locations for target definition files. The Directory Installation and Feature entries are not supported by Tycho and are ignored by the build process.

The target editor picks always the exact version of the plug-in from the update site. In case you building against dynamically changing p2 repositories, you can specify that the version is not important. Use in this case "0.0.0" as version qualifier. This change needs to be done, via a test editor, as the target editor does not support this. Tycho will select a version from the p2 update site, if several versions are available one of them is picked.

3. Executing plug-in unit tests with Tycho

3.1. Configuration for the test execution

In Eclipse it is common practice to have a separate test plug-in or fragment project for your tests.

Tycho uses the eclipse-test-plugin packaging type for these projects. The test execution is done via the Tycho Surefire plug-in which is aware of plug-in dependencies.

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <!--parent pom...  -->

    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.rcp.tests</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>eclipse-test-plugin</packaging>
</project>

Tycho builds test plug-ins similar as regular Eclipse plugins. The execution of the the tests happens in the integration-text life cycle phase of Maven. The runtime behavior of the Maven Tycho Surefire plug-in is a little different to the Maven Surefire plug-in. Tycho Surefire tests run in the integration-test phase while regular Maven Surefire tests run in the test phase. The integration-test phase occurs between the package and install phases.

The Tycho Surefire plug-in supports the execution of non-UI based and UI-based tests. If you run UI tests, you have to enabled that explicitly via the useUIHarness parameter.

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <!--parent pom... -->

    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.rcp.tests</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>eclipse-test-plugin</packaging>

    <build>
        <plugins>
         <plugin>
            <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
            <artifactId>tycho-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>${tycho.version}</version>
            <configuration>
                <useUIHarness>true</useUIHarness>
            </configuration>
         </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

The tests are executed in a test runtime (based on OSGi), using the dependencies defined in the MANIFEST.MF file of the test plug-in. You can also include more dependencies to features ("eclipse-feature"), plug-ins /fragments ("eclipse-plugin") or installable units ("p2-installable-unit"). If you define a dependency you include also their transitive dependencies, to the test runtime.

<project>
 <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

 <!--parent pom... -->

 <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.rcp.tests</artifactId>
 <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
 <packaging>eclipse-test-plugin</packaging>

 <build>
  <plugins>
   <plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>tycho-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${tycho.version}</version>
    <configuration>
     <useUIHarness>true</useUIHarness>
     <dependencies>
      <dependency>
       <type>eclipse-feature</type>
       <artifactId>com.vogelal.feature1</artifactId>
       <!-- This is the minimum required version -->
       <version>1.0.0</version>
      </dependency>
     </dependencies>
    </configuration>
   </plugin>
  </plugins>
 </build>


</project>

3.2. Selection of tests

Similar to the Maven Surfire plug-in, Tycho Surfile selects, by default, all test classes matching the /Test*.java, /Test.java and */*TestCase.java for the test run.

This selection can be configured via the includes parameter.

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <!--parent pom... -->

    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.rcp.tests</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>eclipse-test-plugin</packaging>

    <!-- Define to include all classes in the test run -->
    <build>
     <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>tycho-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>${tycho.version}</version>
         <configuration>
          <includes>
            <include>**/*.class</include>
          </includes>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
     </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

You can also specify a specific test or test suite to be executed.

This requires setting the TestSuite to the Bundle-Symbolic-Name of the plug-in and the testClass parameter to the fully qualified class.

<!-- snippet -->
<build>
 <plugins>
  <plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
     <artifactId>tycho-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
     <version>${tycho.version}</version>
     <configuration>
        <testSuite>org.eclipse.e4.ui.tests.css.swt</testSuite>
        <testClass>org.eclipse.e4.ui.tests.css.swt.CssSwtTestSuite</testClass>
     </configuration>
    </plugin>
 </plugins>
</build>

3.3. Using the correct JRE for the test execution

The JDT compiler can be configured to use the compiler source/target level according to MANIFEST.MF settings. So it is possible to compile a JavaSE-1.8 bundle using JDK 7, even if I started the build process with a Java 7 JVM.

This is not true for running the tests. The tests are running with the build JVM by default. So only because a Java 8 plug-in compiles, this does not mean that the correct JVM is used. If you test bundle requires for example Java 8, you must start the build process via a Java 8 JVM.

4. Exercise: Configure Tycho build

In this exercise you define the meta data to use pomless builds with Tycho. The example uses new plug-ins but of course the same approach works for existing plug-ins. The suggested directory structure is optional, if your plug-ins are all on the same level, that is also supported. You also create the directory structure and the Eclipse projects to contain the main and configuration pom.

Displaying hierarchical projects

The Project Explorer view allows to see hierarchical projects. See screenshot for the required setting.

4.1. Create a new folder and create a root project in it

Select or create a new directory for this tutorial. In this directory, create a new project called com.vogella.tycho via the File New Other… General Project menu entry.

Create new project of type general - Part 2

This root project is supposed to contain all Eclipse components and the main pom file.

4.2. Enable pomless Tycho build

Create in the main directory (in the com.vogella.tycho project) a .mvn/extensions.xml descriptor. The content of the .mvn/extensions.xml must look like the following to enable pomless builds.

<extensions>
  <extension>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho.extras</groupId>
    <artifactId>tycho-pomless</artifactId>
    <version>1.3.0</version>
  </extension>
</extensions>

4.3. Create pom for the build configuration

Create a new folder called releng in the main directory. In this folder create a new project of type General called com.vogella.tycho.configuration.

Create new project for the Tycho configuration

Create the following pom.xml file in this project.

<project>
 <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
 <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.configuration</artifactId>
 <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
 <packaging>pom</packaging>

 <properties>
  <tycho.version>1.3.0</tycho.version>
  <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
  <eclipse-repo.url>http://download.eclipse.org/releases/2018-12</eclipse-repo.url>
 </properties>

 <repositories>
  <repository>
   <id>eclipse-release</id>
   <url>${eclipse-repo.url}</url>
   <layout>p2</layout>
  </repository>

 </repositories>

 <build>
  <plugins>
   <plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>tycho-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${tycho.version}</version>
    <extensions>true</extensions>
   </plugin>
   <!--Enable the replacement of the SNAPSHOT version in the final product configuration-->
   <plugin>
        <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
            <artifactId>tycho-packaging-plugin</artifactId>
             <version>${tycho.version}</version>
             <executions>
              <execution>
                <phase>package</phase>
                <id>package-feature</id>
                    <configuration>
                        <finalName>${project.artifactId}_${unqualifiedVersion}.${buildQualifier}</finalName>
                    </configuration>
            </execution>
        </executions>
    </plugin>
    <plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>target-platform-configuration</artifactId>
    <version>${tycho.version}</version>
    <configuration>
     <environments>
      <environment>
       <os>linux</os>
       <ws>gtk</ws>
       <arch>x86_64</arch>
      </environment>
      <environment>
       <os>win32</os>
       <ws>win32</ws>
       <arch>x86_64</arch>
      </environment>
      <environment>
       <os>macosx</os>
       <ws>cocoa</ws>
       <arch>x86_64</arch>
      </environment>
     </environments>
    </configuration>
   </plugin>
  </plugins>
 </build>
</project>

4.4. Create pom in the root project

Create the following pom.xml file in the root project of your build.

<project>
 <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
 <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.root</artifactId>
 <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
 <packaging>pom</packaging>
 <parent>
   <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
   <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.configuration</artifactId>
   <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <relativePath>./releng/com.vogella.tycho.configuration</relativePath>
 </parent>

 <modules>
 </modules>
</project>

4.5. Validate build setup

The created directory structure should look like the following.

Run the build via mvn clean verify, this build should be successful. No build artifact is created.

5. Exercise: Tycho build for plug-ins

The following exercise demonstrates how to build Eclipse plug-ins with Maven Tycho.

5.1. Creating a folder for your plug-ins

Create a new folder called bundles in the root project. This folder will contain your Eclipse plug-ins (OSGi bundles).

5.2. Creating a plug-in to build

In the bundles folder create a new plug-in project called com.vogella.tycho.plugin1.

This plug-in does not require a pom file, the defaults from pomless are fine for this project.

5.3. Add pom for bundles directory

Create the following pom in the bundles directory.

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.bundles</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>

    <parent>
        <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.root</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>

    <modules>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.plugin1</module>
    </modules>
</project>

5.4. Add bundle to root pom

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.root</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>
    <parent>
            <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
            <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.configuration</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
        <relativePath>./releng/com.vogella.tycho.configuration</relativePath>
    </parent>

    <modules>
        <module>bundles</module>
    </modules>
</project>

5.5. Run the build and validate the result

To run the build on the command line from your root directory via mvn clean verify. In your console you should see the BUILD SUCCESS statement.

Press F5 on your project in the Eclipse IDE to refresh it. You find a new folder called target in your project which contains the JAR file for your plug-in. The created JAR file still has the SNAPSHOT suffix. This suffix is replaced with the build time stamp once you build a product or an update site with the eclipse-repository packaging type.

You can also run the build from the bundles directory or the directory of the plug-in. This build should also run successfully.

6. Exercise: Tycho build for Eclipse features

The following description demonstrates how to build Eclipse features with Maven Tycho. It is based on [exercisetychoplugin].

6.1. Create features directory

Create a new directory called features in your main directory.

6.2. Create feature to build

Create a new feature project called com.vogella.tycho.feature in the features folder.

Add the com.vogella.tycho.plugin1 plug-in to the feature.

6.3. Create pom for feature folder

Create the following pom in the features directory.

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.features</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>

    <parent>
        <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.root</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>

    <modules>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.feature</module>
    </modules>
</project>

The com.vogella.tycho.feature feature does not require an separate pom file, as we can use the generated defaults.

6.4. Add feature to root pom

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.root</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>
    <parent>
            <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
            <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.configuration</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
        <relativePath>./releng/com.vogella.tycho.configuration</relativePath>
    </parent>

    <modules>
        <module>bundles</module>
        <module>features</module> (1)
    </modules>
</project>

1	Adds the features pom to the build

6.5. Run the build

Run the build from the main directory. This should work fine.

[INFO] Reactor Summary:
[INFO]
[INFO] com.vogella.tycho.root ............................. SUCCESS [  0.055 s]
[INFO] com.vogella.tycho.bundles .......................... SUCCESS [  0.002 s]
[INFO] com.vogella.tycho.plugin1 .......................... SUCCESS [  0.518 s]
[INFO] com.vogella.tycho.features ......................... SUCCESS [  0.002 s]
[INFO] com.vogella.tycho.feature .......................... SUCCESS [  0.118 s]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Building the feature (from the features directory) will not work, as this requires com.vogella.tycho.plugin1 to be present in one of the repositories specified as dependency.

[ERROR] Missing requirement:
 com.vogella.tycho.feature.feature.group 1.0.0.qualifier
 requires 'com.vogella.tycho.plugin1 0.0.0' but it could not be found

If an independent build of the feature is required, you need to make the plug-in available via a repository. This can for example be done by building and installing the plug-in into the local Maven repository with the mvn clean install command.

Press F5 in the Eclipse IDE on your feature project to refresh it. You find a new target folder in your project which contains the JAR file for your feature. Also this JAR file still has the SNAPSHOT suffix. This suffix is replaced with the build time stamp once you build a product or an update site with the eclipse-repository packaging type.

7. Exercise: Tycho build for update sites

The following exercise demonstrates how to build Eclipse p2 update sites with Maven Tycho. It is based on the [exercisetychoplugin] and [exercisetychofeature] exercises.

7.1. Create a category definition file for the update site

In your releng folder, create a new project of type General. called com.vogella.tycho.update.

Right-click on this project and select File New Other… Plug-in Development Category Definition.

Press the New Category button and create a new category with the "tychoexample" ID and "Tycho example" name.

Press the Add Feature… button and include your feature project into the category.

7.2. Create pom file for the releng folder

Create the following pom file in the releng folder.

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.releng</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>

    <parent>
        <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.root</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>

    <modules>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.update</module>
    </modules>
</project>

7.3. Create pom for the update site

Create the following pom file for your update site project.

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <parent>
        <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.releng</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.update</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>eclipse-repository</packaging>
</project>

7.4. Update the root pom

Add your new module to your root pom file.

<project>
 <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
 <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.root</artifactId>
 <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
 <packaging>pom</packaging>
 <parent>
   <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
   <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.configuration</artifactId>
   <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <relativePath>./releng/com.vogella.tycho.configuration</relativePath>
 </parent>

 <modules>
  <module>bundles</module>
  <module>features</module>
  <module>releng</module> (1)
 </modules>
</project>

1	Adds the releng pom to the aggregator build

7.5. Run aggregator build and validate the update site build result

Run the build from your main directory. It should complete sucessfully and build all your components including the update site.

Press F5 in the Eclipse IDE on your update site project to refresh it. You find a new target folder in your project which contains a repository folder. This folder contains the update site.

Validate that the JAR files in the "repository" have the SNAPSHOT suffix replaced with the build qualifier.

8. Exercise: Tycho build for products

The following exercise demonstrates how to build Eclipse products with Maven Tycho. It is based on the [exercisetychoplugin] and [exercisetychofeature] exercises.

8.1. Creating a plug-in and the product project

Use the File New Other… Plug-in Development Plug-in Project menu entry and create a plug-in in the bundles folder. Call this plug-in com.vogella.tycho.rcp and use the Eclipse 4 RCP application template.

Create a new project of type General called com.vogella.tycho.product in the releng folder.

Eclipse project for the product creation

Move your .product file from the com.vogella.tycho.rcp file into this new project.

8.2. Enter ID in the product

To build your product with Tycho, you need to enter the ID on the product configuration file.

Entering the product ID in the product configuration file

8.3. Create poms

You do not need to create a pom file for your com.vogella.tycho.rcp plug-in as the default pom is sufficient.

Default pom for products are not yet supported (see Bug report), therefore create a pom file for your product.

<project>
 <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 <parent>
  <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
  <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.releng</artifactId>
  <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
 </parent>

    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
 <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.product</artifactId>
 <packaging>eclipse-repository</packaging>
 <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

 <build>
  <plugins>
   <plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>tycho-p2-repository-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${tycho.version}</version>
    <configuration>
     <includeAllDependencies>true</includeAllDependencies>
    </configuration>
   </plugin>
   <plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>tycho-p2-director-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${tycho.version}</version>
    <executions>
     <execution>
      <id>materialize-products</id>
      <goals>
       <goal>materialize-products</goal>
      </goals>
     </execution>
     <execution>
      <id>archive-products</id>
      <goals>
       <goal>archive-products</goal>
      </goals>
     </execution>
    </executions>
   </plugin>
  </plugins>
 </build>
</project>

8.4. Change product to use features

Change your product configuration file to be based on features.

8.5. Enter start-level in the product

To ensure that your product can be executed after the build, set the start levels and the auto-start flag for important plug-ins. You can do this via the product configuration file on the Configuration tab.

org.eclipse.core.runtime Start-Level 2
org.eclipse.equinox.ds Start-Level  3
org.eclipse.equinox.event Start-Level 3

If you get the following stack trace, when starting the built product, you likely have an incorrect start-level configuration.

java.lang.IllegalStateException: Unable to acquire application service. Ensure that the org.eclipse.core.runtime bundle is resolved and started (see config.ini).
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:78)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:388)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:243)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:673)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:610)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1519)

8.6. Enable separate update of the custom feature

Open the product file and add `installMode="root"`for the feature. This allows to update the feature separately.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?pde version="3.5"?>

<product name="com.vogella.tycho.rcp" uid="Tycho" id="com.vogella.tycho.rcp.product" application="org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.swt.E4Application" version="1.0.0.qualifier" useFeatures="true" includeLaunchers="true">

   <configIni use="default">
   </configIni>

   <launcherArgs>
      <programArgs>-clearPersistedState
      </programArgs>
      <vmArgsMac>-XstartOnFirstThread -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts
      </vmArgsMac>
   </launcherArgs>

   <windowImages/>

   <plugins>
   </plugins>

   <features>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.e4.rcp" installMode="root"/>
      <feature id="com.vogella.tycho.feature" version="1.0.0.qualifier"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.emf.ecore"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.emf.common"/>
   </features>

   <configurations>
      <plugin id="org.eclipse.core.runtime" autoStart="false" startLevel="2" />
      <plugin id="org.eclipse.equinox.ds" autoStart="false" startLevel="3" />
      <plugin id="org.eclipse.equinox.event" autoStart="false" startLevel="3" />
   </configurations>

</product>

8.7. Update releng pom

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.releng</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>

    <parent>
        <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.root</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>

    <modules>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.update</module>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.product</module> (1)
    </modules>
</project>

1	Add the project with the product configuration to the build

8.8. Update bundles pom to include the new rcp plug-in

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.bundles</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>

    <parent>
        <groupId>com.vogella.tycho.example</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.example.root</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>

    <modules>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.plugin1</module>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.rcp</module> (1)
    </modules>
</project>

1	Adds the rcp plug-in to the bundles build

8.9. Validate setup

Run the build and after the build you find zip and extracted versions of your product in the target/products folder.

9. Exercise: Tycho build for products with root files

In some cases it is helpful, if additional static files, like a readme.txt or logback.xml file, can be added to the built product. The easiest way to archive this, is to use root properties in the build.properties file a feature project.

Tip: Further information about root file properties can be found here: Adding Files to the Root of a Build

9.1. Adding a static file to a feature

Create a readme.txt file in the com.vogella.tycho.feature project.

9.2. Include the readme.txt file

To include this file into the product, the existing build.properties file of the com.vogella.tycho.feature project has to be adjusted by a root file property.

bin.includes = feature.xml
root = file:readme.txt

9.3. Validate

Run the mvn clean verify command. Inside the built product should be a readme.txt file.

Built product with readme.txt in root folder

10. Exercise: Using a target platform for the build

10.1. Create project and target definition file

Create a new project of type General in the releng folder called com.vogella.tycho.target.

Right-click on the new project and select the New Other Plug-in Development Target Definition menu entry. Name the file com.vogella.tycho.target.target.

The name is actually important. It must be the name of the Maven artifact id followed by .target.

Add the Eclipse RCP SDK and Equinox Target Components to your target definition file.

Activate the target definition file in the Eclipse IDE. Of course, Tycho requires that the target platform definition actually works for development. If you have compile errors after activation in the Eclipse IDE, it will also not work for the automatic build.

10.2. Create pom file for the target definition file

Create in a pom file to your com.vogella.tycho.target project.

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <parent>
        <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.releng</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.target</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>eclipse-target-definition</packaging>

</project>

10.3. Update releng and configuration pom

Add the new project to your aggregator pom file

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.releng</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>

    <parent>
        <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.root</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>

    <modules>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.update</module>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.product</module>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.target</module>
    </modules>
</project>

Finally activate the usage of the target platform.

<project>
 <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
 <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.configuration</artifactId>
 <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
 <packaging>pom</packaging>

 <properties>
  <tycho.version>1.2.0</tycho.version>
  <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
  <mars-repo.url>http://download.eclipse.org/releases/mars</mars-repo.url>
 </properties>

 <!-- Repositories should be commented out to only use the target definition (1)
 <repositories>
  <repository>
   <id>eclipse-repo</id>
   <url>${repo.url}</url>
   <layout>p2</layout>
  </repository>
 </repositories>
 -->

 <build>
  <plugins>
   <plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>tycho-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${tycho.version}</version>
    <extensions>true</extensions>
   </plugin>

   <plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>target-platform-configuration</artifactId>
    <version>${tycho.version}</version>
    <configuration>
     <target> (2)
        <artifact>
            <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
            <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.target</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
        </artifact>
    </target>


     <environments>
      <environment>
       <os>linux</os>
       <ws>gtk</ws>
       <arch>x86</arch>
      </environment>
      <environment>
       <os>linux</os>
       <ws>gtk</ws>
       <arch>x86_64</arch>
      </environment>
      <environment>
       <os>win32</os>
       <ws>win32</ws>
       <arch>x86_64</arch>
      </environment>
      <environment>
       <os>macosx</os>
       <ws>cocoa</ws>
       <arch>x86_64</arch>
      </environment>
     </environments>
    </configuration>
   </plugin>
  </plugins>
 </build>
</project>

1	This should be commented out or removed, since only the target definition should be used now
2	This block activates the usage of the target definition file

11. Exercise: Tycho build for test plug-ins

The following exercise demonstrates how to run unit tests with Tycho. It is based on the [exercisetychoplugin] and [exercisetychofeature] exercises.

The tests of the implementation belong into a separate plug-in or fragment project. We decide that our software tests should test the API defined by the plug-in, therefore we create a plug-in for the unit tests.

11.1. Adding the test dependencies

For testing usually JUnit is used, but also libraries like Hamcrest and Mockito.

Therefore they are added to the target platform by using the Orbit repository.

The Orbit repository URLs do change quite regulary. Nevertheless the current one for Neon is http://download.eclipse.org/tools/orbit/downloads/drops/R20160520211859/repository/. In case this is not valid any more go to Orbit and look for the latest Orbit repository URL.

So for test purposes the target definition could look like this:

11.2. Create a new tests folder

Create a new tests folder in the root tychoexample folder.

Add the following pom.xml file to the tests folder:

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.tests</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>

    <parent>
        <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.root</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
        <relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
    </parent>

    <modules>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.rcp.tests</module>
    </modules>
</project>

11.3. Create a new plug-in for the tests

Create a new plug-in fragment project called com.vogella.tycho.rcp.tests.

Define a dependency to org.junit;bundle-version="4.12.0 and com.vogella.tycho.plugin1 in its MANIFEST.MF file.

The default are sufficient for this test plug-in, hence we need no separate pom for the test plug-in.

11.4. Create a unit test

Create the following unit test, as an example. Of course this test does not test anything real. It is only used to demonstrate how Tycho runs the tests.

package com.vogella.tycho.unittests;

import static org.junit.Assert.*;

import org.junit.Test;

public class ExampleTest {

    @Test
    public void test() {
        // just an example
        assertTrue(true);
    }

}

11.5. Run the build with the tests

Run the build from the main directory. This should work fine.

If you want to skip the test execution use mvn clean verify -DskipTests=true

11.6. Debug Maven Tycho tests via Eclipse

To debug Maven Tycho tests, add the -DdebugPort=8000 parameter to your Maven build command. Maven will pause during execution and you can create a Remove Java Applicatio debug configuration configuration to connect to the test

12. Exercise: Tycho build for SWTBot tests

The following exercise demonstrates how to run SWTBot tests with Tycho. It is based on the [exercisetychoplugin] and [exercisetychofeature] exercises.

12.1. Adding the test dependencies

The dependencies for JUnit, Hamcrest and Mockito will be reused in this exercise.

The latest version of SWT bot can be obtained from this update site: http://download.eclipse.org/technology/swtbot/releases/latest/

12.2. Create a new plug-in for the tests

Create a new plug-in fragment project called com.vogella.tycho.rcp.it.tests, where "it" stands for integration test.

Define a dependency to org.junit;bundle-version="4.12.0, org.hamcrest;bundle-version="1.3.0", org.eclipse.swtbot.junit4_x;bundle-version="2.3.0" and org.eclipse.swtbot.swt.finder;bundle-version="2.3.0" in its MANIFEST.MF file.

12.3. Create a unit test

Create the following SWTBot test.

package com.vogella.tycho.rcp.it.tests.swtbot;

import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;

import org.eclipse.swtbot.swt.finder.SWTBot;
import org.eclipse.swtbot.swt.finder.junit.SWTBotJunit4ClassRunner;
import org.eclipse.swtbot.swt.finder.widgets.SWTBotMenu;
import org.junit.BeforeClass;
import org.junit.Test;
import org.junit.runner.RunWith;

@RunWith(SWTBotJunit4ClassRunner.class)
public class TestMenus {

    private static SWTBot bot;

    @BeforeClass
    public static void beforeClass() throws Exception {
        // don't use SWTWorkbenchBot here which relies on Platform 3.x
        bot = new SWTBot();
    }

    @Test
    public void ensureSaveIsDisabledWhenNothingIsDirty() {
        SWTBotMenu menu = bot.menu("File").menu("Save");

        assertThat("Save command in menu is not enabled", not(menu.isEnabled()));
    }

}

In the @BeforeClass method a static reference to a SWTBot instance, which will be used for all test methods, is created.

SWTBot needs a special test runner, which is applied by annotating the test class with @RunWith(SWTBotJunit4ClassRunner.class) for using the SWTBot test runner.

12.4. Pom file for SWTBot tests

Another difference for integration tests, like SWTBot tests, is that the Tycho Surefire plug-in has to be configured, so that the SWTBot test can run properly.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd"
    xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <parent>
        <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.tests</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>

    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.rcp.it.tests</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>eclipse-test-plugin</packaging>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
                <artifactId>tycho-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${tycho.version}</version>
                <configuration>
                    <useUIHarness>true</useUIHarness>
                    <useUIThread>false</useUIThread>
                    <product>com.vogella.tycho.rcp.product</product>
                    <application>org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.swt.E4Application</application>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

12.5. Adding org.eclipse.equinox.event as extra requirement

In most of the cases the org.eclipse.equinox.event plug-in is used in an Eclipse RCP application. Unfortunately it sometimes is not loaded properly for an integration test, even though it is part of the target platform of the product and mentioned in the start level configuration. Due to this it needs to be specified in the configuration of the target-platform-configuration plugin.

<project>

    <build>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
            <artifactId>target-platform-configuration</artifactId>
            <version>${tycho.version}</version>

            <configuration>
                <!-- This defines the target definition file -->
                <target>
                    <artifact>
                        <groupId>com.vogella.tychoexample</groupId>
                        <artifactId>com.vogella.build.targetdefinition</artifactId>
                        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
                    </artifact>
                </target>

                <dependency-resolution>(1)
                    <extraRequirements>
                        <requirement>
                            <type>eclipse-plugin</type>
                            <id>org.eclipse.equinox.event</id>
                            <versionRange>0.0.0</versionRange>
                        </requirement>
                    </extraRequirements>
                </dependency-resolution>

                <environments>
                    <environment>
                        <os>linux</os>
                        <ws>gtk</ws>
                        <arch>x86</arch>
                    </environment>
                    <environment>
                        <os>linux</os>
                        <ws>gtk</ws>
                        <arch>x86_64</arch>
                    </environment>
                    <environment>
                        <os>win32</os>
                        <ws>win32</ws>
                        <arch>x86_64</arch>
                    </environment>
                    <environment>
                        <os>macosx</os>
                        <ws>cocoa</ws>
                        <arch>x86_64</arch>
                    </environment>
                </environments>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

1	Add the `org.eclipse.equinox.event` plug-in as extra requirement in the dependency resolution.

Also see https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=499587.

12.6. Add the SWTBot test to the build

The com.vogella.tycho.rcp.it.tests plug-in has to be added to the pom.xml of the tests folder to take part in the overall build.

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.tests</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>

    <parent>
        <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.root</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
        <relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
    </parent>

    <modules>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.rcp.tests</module>
        <module>com.vogella.tycho.rcp.it.tests</module>
    </modules>
</project>

12.7. Run the build with the tests

Run the build from the main directory. This should work fine.

13. More Tycho settings

13.1. Using root level features

A root level feature is a feature which can be updated or uninstalled independently of the product.

To define that a feature is a root level feature, add installMode="root" behind the feature in the product definition file. You need to use a text editor for this at the moment, the product configuration editor does currently not expose that in its user interface.

13.2. Enable the generation of default pom files for Eclipse components

To enable the automatic determination of build information for your Eclipse components, add a .mvn/extensions.xml descriptor to the root of your directory. This requires at least Apache Maven 3.3 and Maven Tycho 0.24.0, but we recommend to use the latest versions.

The contents of the .mvn/extensions.xml must look like this:

<extensions>
  <extension>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho.extras</groupId>
    <artifactId>tycho-pomless</artifactId>
    <version>1.3.0</version>
  </extension>
</extensions>

The following rules are used for the automatic pom generation. First of all .qualifier from the Eclipse components is automatically mapped to -SNAPSHOT for the Maven build.

Table 1. Pom Properties Mapping
Property	Mapping
packaging	eclipse-plugin if MANIFEST.MF is found eclipse-feature if feature.xml is found eclipse-test-plugin if Bundle-SymbolicName ends with .tests
groupId	same as in the parent pom
arifactId	eclipse-plugin: Bundle-SymbolicName from MANIFEST.MF eclipse-feature: feature id from feature.xml
version	Bundle-Version from MANIFEST.MF or Feature version from feature.xml

13.3. Defining a specialized pom file for an Eclipse component

If you define a pom file for an Eclipse component, you need to specify the packaging attribute in the pom file.

The build requires that the version numbers of each single Maven artifacts and it’s Eclipse plug-ins are in sync. Sometimes (this is rare these days) developers forget to update the Maven version numbers. In this case the build complains about a version mismatch. Run the following command to correct existing inconsistencies.

mvn -Dtycho.mode=maven org.eclipse.tycho:tycho-versions-plugin:update-pom

This attribute defines what kind of Eclipse component you are building. For example, a plug-in must set this attribute to eclipse-plugin.

Table 2. Package attributes for Eclipse components
Package Attribute	Description
eclipse-plugin	Used for plug-ins
eclipse-test-plugin	Used for test plug-ins or fragments
eclipse-feature	Used for features
eclipse-repository	Used for p2 update sites and Eclipse products
eclipse-target-definition	Target definition used for the Tycho build

In addition to packaging attribute, the pom of an Eclipse component must also specify the name and the version of the component. The artifact ID and version in the pom file must match the Bundle-Symbolic-Name and the Bundle-Version from the MANIFEST.MF file. Eclipse components typical use qualifier as a suffix in the Bundle-Version to indicate that this should be replaced by the build system with a build qualifier. Maven uses "SNAPSHOT" for this, but Tycho maps these values correctly. Each module has again a pom.xml configuration file which defines attributes specifically to the corresponding Eclipse component, e.g., the package attribute.

It must also contain a link to the main or the configuration pom so that the build can determine the configuration.

The following listing contains an example pom file for a plug-in.

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <!-- Link to the parent pom -->
    <parent>
        <artifactId>com.example.todo.build.parent</artifactId>
        <groupId>com.example.e4.rcp</groupId>
        <version>0.1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
        <relativePath>../com.example.todo.build.parent</relativePath>
    </parent>

    <groupId>com.example.e4.rcp</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.imageloader.services</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>eclipse-plugin</packaging>
</project>

13.4. Source Encoding

You can set the source code encoding via the project.build.sourceEncoding parameter.

<properties>
 <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
</properties>

If you do not set this encoding property the maven build throws warnings similar to the following: [WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!

For further information see Maven FAQ for encoding warning (http://maven.apache.org/general.html#encoding-warning).

13.5. Building source features

Tycho generates source features on the fly, so you do not need to create any additional projects.

<!-- enable source feature generation -->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho.extras</groupId>
                <artifactId>tycho-source-feature-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${tycho.version}</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>source-feature</id>
                        <phase>package</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>source-feature</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
                <configuration>
                    <excludes>
                    <!-- provide plug-ins not containing any source code -->
                    <plugin id="com.vogella.tycho.product" />
                    <plugin id="com.vogella.tycho.target" />
                    <plugin id="com.vogella.tycho.update" />
                    </excludes>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
                <artifactId>tycho-source-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${tycho.version}</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>plugin-source</id>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>plugin-source</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>
<!-- -->
             <plugin>
                <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
                <artifactId>tycho-p2-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>${tycho.version}</version>
                    <executions>
                        <execution>
                            <id>attach-p2-metadata</id>
                            <phase>package</phase>
                            <goals>
                                <goal>p2-metadata</goal>
                            </goals>
                        </execution>
                    </executions>
            </plugin>

You can add the generated source features to your existing updates side. For this, open the category file and add the features and plug-ins to one of your categories with the .sources suffix.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<site>
   <feature id="com.vogella.tycho.feature" version="0.0.0">
      <category name="tychoexample"/>
   </feature>
   <feature id="com.vogella.tycho.feature.source" version="0.0.0">
      <category name="tychoexample-source"/>
   </feature>

   <category-def name="tychoexample" label="Tycho example"/>
   <category-def name="tychoexample-source" label="Tycho example source bundles"/>
</site>

13.6. Mirroring a remote update site

Tycho allows to mirror a remote update site. This reduces the dependency to the remote side as you can use your local copy for building the Eclipse application.

The following is an example for such a mirror task.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd"
    xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <name>Mirror Update Site</name>

    <prerequisites>
        <maven>3.0</maven>
    </prerequisites>



    <groupId>com.vogella.p2.mirror</groupId>
    <artifactId>mirror</artifactId>
    <version>3.5.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>
    <properties>
        <tycho-version>1.0.0</tycho-version>
        <tycho-extras.version>1.0.0</tycho-extras.version>
    </properties>


    <build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho.extras</groupId>
            <artifactId>tycho-p2-extras-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>${tycho-version}</version>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <phase>prepare-package</phase>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>mirror</goal>
                    </goals>
                </execution>
            </executions>

            <configuration>
                <source>
                    <!-- source repositories to mirror from -->
                    <repository>
                        <url>http://download.eclipse.org/releases/2018-09/</url>
                        <layout>p2</layout>
                        <!-- supported layouts are "p2-metadata", "p2-artifacts", and "p2" (for joint repositories; default) -->
                    </repository>

                </source>

                <!-- starting from here all configuration parameters are optional -->
                <!-- they are only shown here with default values for documentation purpose -->

                <!-- List of IUs to mirror. If omitted, allIUs will be mirrored. -->
                <!-- Omitted IU version element means latest version of the IU -->

                <ius>
                    <iu>
                        <id>org.eclipse.rcp.feature.group</id>
                    </iu>
                </ius>

                <!-- The destination directory to mirror to. -->

                <destination>${project.build.directory}/repository</destination>
                <!-- Whether only strict dependencies should be followed. -->
                <!-- "strict" means perfect version match -->

                <followStrictOnly>false</followStrictOnly>
                <!-- Whether or not to follow optional requirements. -->
                <includeOptional>true</includeOptional>
                <!-- Whether or not to follow non-greedy requirements. -->
                <includeNonGreedy>true</includeNonGreedy>

                <!-- Filter properties. E.g. filter only one platform -->

                <filter>
                    <osgi.os>linux</osgi.os>
                    <osgi.ws>gtk</osgi.ws>
                    <osgi.arch>x86_64</osgi.arch>
                </filter>

                <!-- Whether to filter the resulting set of IUs to only -->
                <!-- include the latest version of each IU -->

                <latestVersionOnly>false</latestVersionOnly>
                <!-- don't mirror artifacts, only metadata -->
                <mirrorMetadataOnly>false</mirrorMetadataOnly>

                <!-- whether to compress the content.xml/artifacts.xml -->

                <compress>true</compress>
                <!-- whether to append to the target repository content -->
                <append>true</append>
                <!-- whether to mirror pack200 artifacts also. Available since tycho-extras 0.17.0 -->
                <includePacked>true</includePacked>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>
</project>

You would execute this task independently of your build and use the newly created local folder in your normal build.

To use your mirror, configure Maven to use it via the settings.xml file in your home folder. Alternatively you can adjust your target definition file to point to the mirror.

<settings>
 <mirrors>
  <mirror>
   <id>Mars_mirror</id>
   <mirrorOf>Mars</mirrorOf>
   <name>Local mirror of Mars repository</name>
   <url>file://home/vogella/Marsclone</url>
   <layout>p2</layout>
   <mirrorOfLayouts>p2</mirrorOfLayouts>
  </mirror>
 </mirrors>
</settings>

13.7. Removing compiler warning messages from the build

You can remove compiler warnings from the Maven build by configuring the tycho-compiler-plugin. This is demonstrated with the following snippet.

<build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
        <artifactId>tycho-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>${tycho.version}</version>
        <configuration>
          <compilerArgs>
            <arg>-warn:-raw,unchecked</arg>
          </compilerArgs>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
 </build>

13.8. Using the last Git commit as build qualifier special build settings

You can configure the tycho-packaging-plugin to use the last Git commit as build qualifier instead of the build time. The following pom file shows how to do this. This allows building reproducible results if no change happened in the Git repository. This only works if the project is in a Git repository.

<project>
 <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 <groupId>com.vogella.tycho.jgit.plugin</groupId>
 <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.jgit.plugin</artifactId>
 <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

 <packaging>eclipse-plugin</packaging>

 <properties>
  <tycho.version>1.2.0</tycho.version>
  <tycho-extras.version>1.2.0</tycho-extras.version>
  <repo.url>http://download.eclipse.org/releases/2018-12</repo.url>
 </properties>

 <repositories>
  <repository>
   <id>eclipse-repo</id>
   <url>${repo.url}</url>
   <layout>p2</layout>
  </repository>

 </repositories>

 <build>
  <plugins>
   <plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>tycho-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${tycho.version}</version>
    <extensions>true</extensions>
   </plugin>

   <plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>target-platform-configuration</artifactId>
   </plugin>
  </plugins>
  <pluginManagement>
   <plugins>
    <plugin>
     <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
     <artifactId>tycho-packaging-plugin</artifactId>
     <version>${tycho.version}</version>
     <dependencies>
      <dependency>
       <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho.extras</groupId>
       <artifactId>tycho-buildtimestamp-jgit</artifactId>
       <version>${tycho-extras.version}</version>
      </dependency>
     </dependencies>
     <configuration>
      <timestampProvider>jgit</timestampProvider>
      <jgit.ignore>
       pom.xml
      </jgit.ignore>
      <jgit.dirtyWorkingTree>ignore</jgit.dirtyWorkingTree>
     </configuration>
    </plugin>
   </plugins>
  </pluginManagement>
 </build>

</project>

13.9. Generating and updating POM files for Eclipse components

13.9.1. Generating POM files

Tycho supports the generation of POM files via its tycho-pomgenerator-plugin:generate-poms goal. This goals search from the existing directory for Eclipse components which do not yet have a pom files and generates them.

You can use the following command to generate the pom files. The -DgroupId allows you to specify the group ID for the pom files.

# group ID is set to com.vogella.tychoexample
mvn org.eclipse.tycho:tycho-pomgenerator-plugin:generate-poms \
    -DgroupId=com.vogella.tychoexample

This command generates pom files for all Eclipse components below the current directory and a parent pom in the current directory which includes all Eclipse components as modules.

For identifying test bundles the generator assumes that those bundles have .test as suffix. By using -DtestSuffix=.mytestBundleSuffix as additional parameter you can override this default.

If you try to execute this generated pom file, the build fail because you have not yet configured your dependencies.

If you want to include Eclipse components which are not in the current directory you can point Tycho to these directories via the -DextraDirs parameter and define from which directory it should start.

mvn org.eclipse.tycho:tycho-pomgenerator-plugin:generate-poms \
 -DgroupId=com.vogella.tycho.build -DbaseDir=features -DextraDirs="../../another_plugin_dir

13.10. Update POM files with new version number

You can also update existing pom files with the latest version number via the following command.

# update pom files
mvn org.eclipse.tycho:tycho-versions-plugin:update-pom
    -Dtycho.mode=maven

13.11. Setting version numbers

After releasing an application or several plug-ins, the version number should be increased. If you do not use pomless builds, there are two locations where version numbers are defined. On the one hand the pom.xml file and on the other hand the MANIFEST.MF file.

This can be done easily by using the Tycho Versions Plugin.

# setting the version in pom.xml and MANIFEST.MF files
mvn org.eclipse.tycho:tycho-versions-plugin:set-version -DnewVersion=X.Y.Z
    -Dtycho.mode=maven

Eclipse usually uses semantic versioning for plug-ins, so a version number like {major}.{minor}.{patch} is used. See Semantic versioning for more information.

The tycho.mode=maven property disables the target platform calculation and dependency resolution, which is usually done by Tycho. This results in better performance, since those features are not necessary for updating the version.

More information about versioning with Tycho can be found in the Tycho version wiki.

13.12. Unpack built plug-ins

In case a plug-in contains native code, e.g., dll files or others, which do not work from inside a JAR file, the plug-in itself should be unpacked.

To archive that the plug-in’s MANIFEST.MF must consist of the following property.

Eclipse-BundleShape: dir

With this property in the MANIFEST.MF file the plug-in won’t be packed as JAR file, but just be available as directory in the plugins directory of a product.

13.13. Signing plug-ins

If the user installs plug-ins which are not signed, the user received a warning that the plug-in is not signed.

The Tycho build system allows to sign plug-ins and executables. You can purchase a certificate from a certification authority or create your own signature and use this for signing. If you use a custom generated certificate the user receives a warning that the certificate is not official.

For testing a self-generated certificate is sufficient. You can generate such a certificate on the command line with the keytool from the Java Development Kit. This requires that the corresponding directory is in your current execution path.

# the following goes in one line

keytool -genkey -alias   -keystore eclipse-signing.keystore \
-storepass PASSWORD -validity 4360

# this command triggers a set of questions

What is your first and last name?
  [Unknown]:  Jim Knopf
What is the name of your organizational unit?
  [Unknown]:  IT
What is the name of your organization?
  [Unknown]:  test Company
What is the name of your City or Locality?
  [Unknown]:  Hamburg
What is the name of your State or Province?
  [Unknown]:  Germany
What is the two-letter country code for this unit?
  [Unknown]:  DE
Is CN=Jim Knopf, OU=IT, O=test Company, L=Hamburg, ST=Germany, C=DE correct?
  [no]:  y

Enter key password for <selfsigned>
    (RETURN if same as keystore password):

To sign the plug-ins add the configuration for the maven-jarsigner-plugin

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-jarsigner-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>1.2</version>
        <configuration>
            <keystore>file:///home/vogella/eclipse-signing.keystore</keystore>
                <storepass>voclipse</storepass>
                    <alias>selfsigned</alias>
                      <keypass>PASSWORD</keypass>
        </configuration>
        <executions>
            <execution>
                <id>sign</id>
                <goals>
                    <goal>sign</goal>
                </goals>
            </execution>
         </executions>
</plugin>

13.14. Building native components

Building native components, for example based on C or C++ code, is typically done via antrunner calling the native build system like make.

See the following commit for an example:

http://git.eclipse.org/c/cdt/org.eclipse.cdt.git/commit/?id=dff6b3bae3ddb27df5433ce7ff3ebb2f4c90de6d

14. Tycho and m2e

To use the Eclipse m2e plug-in easily with Tycho, it is recommended to install the M2E Tycho connectors.

You find the latest version of this connector via the following update site:

http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/.m2e/connectors/m2eclipse-tycho/0.8.0/N/LATEST/

15. Automatic deployment of a p2 update site with Maven

You can use the Maven Wagon plug-in to deploy your artifacts, e.g., to an ftp server.

To define the credentials to login to the server you can add an entry for the user credentials to your local ~/m2/settings.xml file.

<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0
                      http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd">
  <localRepository/>
  <interactiveMode/>
  <usePluginRegistry/>
  <offline/>
  <pluginGroups/>
  <servers>
    <server>
      <id>ftp-repository</id>
      <username>youruser</username>
      <password>yourpassword</password>
    </server>
  </servers>
  <mirrors/>
  <proxies/>
  <profiles/>
  <activeProfiles/>
</settings>

You can then configure your pom file to use the wagon plug-in of Maven.

<project>
  <distributionManagement>
    <repository>
      <id>ftp-repository</id>
      <url>ftp://repository.mycompany.com/repository</url>
    </repository>
  </distributionManagement>

  <build>
    <extensions>
      <!-- Enabling the use of FTP -->
      <extension>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.wagon</groupId>
         <artifactId>wagon-ftp</artifactId>
         <version>1.0-beta-6</version>
      </extension>
    </extensions>
  </build>
</project>

The following command will now deploy your artifacts to your ftp site.

mvn deploy

If you only want to upload your p2 update site, you can configure the org.apache.maven.wagon plug-in.

<project>
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

  <parent>
    <relativePath>../com.vogella.tycho.master/pom.xml</relativePath>
    <groupId>com.vogella</groupId>
    <artifactId>parent</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  </parent>

  <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.p2updatesite</artifactId>
  <packaging>eclipse-repository</packaging>

  <name>Tycho Test Build</name>

 <build>
  <extensions>
   <!-- Enabling the use of FTP -->
   <extension>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.wagon</groupId>
    <artifactId>wagon-ftp</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-beta-6</version>
   </extension>
  </extensions>
 </build>

 <profiles>
  <!-- This profile is used to upload the repo -->
  <profile>
   <id>uploadRepo</id>
   <properties>
    <!-- Properties relative to the
    distant host where to upload the repo -->
    <ftp.url>ftp://your.server.com</ftp.url>
    <ftp.toDir>/yourpath</ftp.toDir>
    <!-- Relative path to the repo being uploaded -->
    <repo.path>${project.build.directory}/repository/</repo.path>
   </properties>

   <build>
    <plugins>
     <!-- Upload the repo to the server -->
     <plugin>
      <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
      <artifactId>wagon-maven-plugin</artifactId>
      <version>1.0-beta-4</version>
      <executions>
       <execution>
        <id>upload-repo</id>
        <phase>install</phase>
        <goals>
         <goal>upload</goal>
        </goals>
        <configuration>
         <fromDir>${repo.path}</fromDir>
         <includes>**</includes>
         <toDir>${ftp.toDir}</toDir>
         <url>${ftp.url}</url>
         <serverId>p2Repo</serverId>
         <!-- Points to your settings.xml
         where the connection settings are
          stored as shown below -->
         <!-- <server> -->
         <!-- <id>p2Repo</id> -->
         <!-- <username>username</username> -->
         <!-- <password>password</password> -->
         <!-- </server> -->
        </configuration>
       </execution>
      </executions>
     </plugin>
    </plugins>
   </build>
  </profile>
 </profiles>

</project>

You can now upload your p2 update site with the following command.

mvn install -P uploadRepo

16. Deploy p2 updatesite to Nexus

16.1. Setup Distribution Management

When a Nexus is installed on localhost, the following Distribution Management will likely be used:

<project>
 <distributionManagement>
  <repository>
   <id>nexus</id>
   <name>Internal Releases</name>
   <url>http://localhost:8081/nexus/content/repositories/releases/</url>
  </repository>
  <snapshotRepository>
   <id>nexus</id>
   <name>Internal Snapshots</name>
   <url>http://localhost:8081/nexus/content/repositories/snapshots/
   </url>
  </snapshotRepository>
 </distributionManagement>
</project>

16.2. Credentials for the Nexus repository manager

To define the credentials to login to the Nexus Server you can add an entry for the user credentials to your local ~/m2/settings.xml file.

<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0
                      http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd">
  <localRepository/>
  <interactiveMode/>
  <usePluginRegistry/>
  <offline/>
  <pluginGroups/>
  <servers>
    <server>
      <id>nexus</id>
      <username>admin</username>
      <password>admin123</password>
    </server>
  </servers>
  <mirrors/>
  <proxies/>
  <profiles/>
  <activeProfiles/>
</settings>

The id in the setting file must fit to the id of the repository in the Distribution Management. Both are named nexus in this example.

16.3. Only deploy the p2 update site

When using mvn clean deploy usually all build artifacts of all modules are deployed to the Nexus. In the context of Tycho build, you usually want to deploy only the p2 update site, since its content is used by the target definitions or for application updates.

In order to archive this the deploy phase can be skipped by using maven.deploy.skip property in the root parent pom.

<properties>
    <tycho.version>1.2.0</tycho.version>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    <!-- Skip the deployment here, submodules can override this property -->
    <maven.deploy.skip>true</maven.deploy.skip>
</properties>

This property will be derived by all child modules so that they are not deployed unless a child module overrides this property. And this is supposed to be done in the p2 update site module.

So this property should be false for all p2 update site modules.

<properties>
    <!-- Do not skip the deployment here since we want this module to be deployed -->
    <maven.deploy.skip>false</maven.deploy.skip>
</properties>

17. Eclipse Tycho resources

Tycho example

Tycho release notes

Blog post about Maven core extensions introduction

Specifying the Tycho execution environment

CBI article from Thanh Ha

Tycho Target Platform

Tycho blog series

Tycho tutorial slides

Git repository for Tycho examples

Tycho Book from the Tycho project

Tycho Reference Card

Tycho Target Platform

Tycho pom first artifacts

Stackoverflow - Error starting application with tycho

18. vogella training and consulting support

Online Training

Onsite Training

Consulting

Appendix A: Copyright, License and Source code

Copyright © 2012-2018 vogella GmbH. Free use of the software examples is granted under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0. This tutorial is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany license.

Licence

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Quick links

Eclipse Tycho for building plug-ins, OSGi bundles and Eclipse applications - Tutorial

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