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This tutorial describes the usage of the Maven Tycho plug-in to build plug-ins, bundles and Eclipse applications. It uses Tycho version 2.2.0.

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1. Using Maven Tycho to build Eclipse components

To produce and deliver your application to your customers, you have to convert the source code into something the customer can use and start. A headless build is typically responsible for doing this.

This is an automatic build without user interaction and without a graphical user interface. It can be triggered from the command line or performed via a build server which does so in a clean (and remote) environment.

Different solutions exist to do a headless build. Currently the most popular approach for building Eclipse applications is based on Maven Tycho.

Tycho is a set of Maven plug-ins for building Eclipse plug-ins, features, products and OSGi bundles. A Tycho build is configured via one or multiple pom.xml files.

You need at least one pom file for configuring the Tycho configuration. Each module can defines its own pom file or use Tycho functionality to calculate this data based on other existing meta data.

1.1. Define the available libraries

The Maven Tycho build can be instructed to use p2 update sites, Maven repositories (as of Tycho 2.2.0) or Eclipse target platform definitions to search for dependencies.

p2 update sites
or set the the target platform

For example the following snippet would make the components from the last release available for your build.

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

Tycho only supports Software Sites as locations for target definition files. The 2.2.0 release also supports dependencies via Maven. The Directory Installation and Feature entries are not supported by Tycho and are ignored by the build process.

The target editor tends to pick up the exact version of the plug-in from the update site. In case you are building against dynamically changing p2 repositories, you can specify that the version is not important. In this case use "0.0.0" as version qualifier. This change needs to be done, via a text 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.

1.2. Setting the Java version

The target configuration allows to set the Java version. This is sometimes required, for example sometimes the Tycho system calculates the wrong Java version for a feature.

For example, the following ensures that you are using Java 14 for your build.

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

 <configuration>
 <executionEnvironment>JavaSE-14</executionEnvironment>
   <!-- more settings -->
 </configuration>
</plugin>

2. Executing plug-in unit tests with Tycho

For the development of Eclipse components, it is common practice to have a separate test plug-in or fragment project for your tests.

Tycho supports pomless builds for plug-ins which contain tests. The test execution is done via the Tycho Surefire plug-in which is aware of plug-in dependencies.

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.

If you need to configure the tests, e.g. exclude some tests or specify parameters you can still can provide your pom file for the test plug-in.

The Tycho Surefire plug-in supports the execution of non-UI based and UI-based tests. If you want to run UI tests, you have to enable that explicitly via the useUIHarness parameter which is demonstrated by the following listing.

<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 in features ("eclipse-feature"), plug-ins or fragments ("eclipse-plugin") or installable units ("p2-installable-unit"). If you define a dependency you need to include their transitive dependencies in the test runtime, too.

<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.vogella.feature1</artifactId>
       <!-- This is the minimum required version -->
       <version>1.0.0</version>
      </dependency>
     </dependencies>
    </configuration>
   </plugin>
  </plugins>
 </build>


</project>

2.1. Selection of tests

Similar to the Maven Surefire plug-in, Tycho Surefire executes, by default, all test classes matching the following pattern:

**/Test*.java
**/*Test.java
**/*TestCase.java
_**/*Tests.java

This included tests 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 exclude tests from the run.

<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>
                <excludes>
                    <!-- Tests fails currently in the command line build-->
                    <exclude>ThisShouldNotRunViaTychoTests</exclude>
                </excludes>
            </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>

2.2. 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 the build process was started with a Java 7 JVM.

This does not work 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 the test bundle requires Java 8 for example, you must start the build process in a Java 8 JVM.

3. Exercise: Configuring a Tycho build for an Eclipse application

In this exercise, you configure a command line build using Maven Tycho for your Eclipse components. The description assumes that all artifacts are placed in the same top-level directory.

3.1. Enable pomless Tycho build

Create a configuration file in the main directory in which all your Eclipse artifacts are stored.

To do this, create a a new directory called .mvn in the main directory. In this .mvn folder create a new file extensions.xml.

This is difficult to do from the Eclipse IDE, this the top-folder is not inside a projects. Use your file explorer and a regular text editor to create this file (this editor must allow to save the content as regular text).

The content of the .mvn/extensions.xml must look like the following:

<extensions>
  <extension>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho.extras</groupId>
    <artifactId>tycho-pomless</artifactId>
    <version>2.2.0</version>
  </extension>
</extensions>

3.2. Create a top-level pom file

Create the following pom.xml file in the top-level directory of your projects.

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

 <properties>
  <tycho.version>2.2.0</tycho.version>
  <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
  <eclipse-repo.url>http://download.eclipse.org/releases/latest</eclipse-repo.url>
 </properties>

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

 <build>
   <pluginManagement>
     <plugins>
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
         <artifactId>tycho-p2-director-plugin</artifactId>
         <version>${tycho.version}</version>
       </plugin>
     </plugins>
   </pluginManagement>

  <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>
     <!-- Optional set the Java version your are using-->
      <!--   <executionEnvironment>JavaSE-15</executionEnvironment>-->
     <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>
  <modules>
   <!--TODO ADD YOUR MODULES HERE-->
 </modules>
</project>

3.3. Validate build setup

Run the build via mvn clean verify, this build should be successful. No build artifact is created. The output should be similar to the following:

[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] ----------------------< com.vogella.tycho:releng >----------------------
[INFO] Building releng 1.0.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO] --------------------------------[ pom ]---------------------------------
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-clean-plugin:2.5:clean (default-clean) @ releng ---
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time:  0.984 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2020-09-07T09:36:03+02:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Exercise: Configure your modules

To add your Eclipse components to the build, you have to add it as module to the top-level pom file.

4.1. A minimal setup

A minimal setup contains only one plug-in which has no dependency to any other module. If you followed the exercises so far, com.vogella.task.model plugin-in is a good candidate for the minimal build setup.

Therefore, add com.vogella.task.model plugin-in to the build by adding the following module entry to the modules section in the pom file.

<project>

 <!-- CONTENT AS BEFORE -->
 <modules>
  <module>com.vogella.tasks.model</module>
  <!-- add more module definitions here -->
 </modules>
</project>

ID of the artifact	Type
com.vogella.tasks.model	plug-in / bundle

ID of the artifact

Type

com.vogella.tasks.model

plug-in / bundle

This assumes you have one plug-in called com.vogella.tasks.model with no dependencies to other plug-ins. If you are starting from scratch, use the Eclipse wizards to create this plug-in.

This setup does not yet use your target platform, lets fix this in the next step.

4.2. Exercise: Using a target platform for the build

In this exercise you use a target definition file to define our available libraries for the build. This way you can build and development against the same setup of libraries.

4.2.1. Validate the target definition file name

To use pomless builds for target definition files, the target platform file should be the name folder and the name of configuration element later used. Ensure that the project (folder) which contains your target definition file is named target-platform and you file is named target-plaform.target to use pomless builds for the target definition.

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

4.2.2. Update releng pom

Add the new project to your pom file in the root folder.

 <!-- existing module-->
 <module>target-platform</module>

Now can you activate the usage of the target platform.

This is done by adding the target configuration to the target-platform-configuration part to the top-level pom file. This allows you also to remove your p2 update sites from the pom file.

See below for a full listing of the top-level pom file.

<!-- this part already exists......-->
<plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>target-platform-configuration</artifactId>
    <version>${tycho.version}</version>
    <configuration>
<!-- this part is new -->
     <target>
        <artifact>
            <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
            <artifactId>target-platform</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
        </artifact>
    </target>

Here is complete top-level pom file.

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

 <properties>
  <tycho.version>2.2.0</tycho.version>
  <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
 </properties>

 <build>
  <pluginManagement>
     <plugins>
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
         <artifactId>tycho-p2-director-plugin</artifactId>
         <version>${tycho.version}</version>
       </plugin>
     </plugins>
   </pluginManagement>
  <plugins>
   <plugin>
    <groupId>org.eclipse.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>tycho-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${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>
     <!-- Optional set the Java version your are using-->
     <!--   <executionEnvironment>JavaSE-15</executionEnvironment>-->
     <target>
        <artifact>
            <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
            <artifactId>target-platform</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
        </artifact>
    </target>
     <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>

 <modules>
    <module>com.vogella.tasks.model</module>
    <module>target-platform</module>
 </modules>
</project>

In the above listing the p2 repository is removed and the target-platform-configuration contains now a reference to the target definition in its configuration block.

4.3. Validate your build

Re-run your build and ensure that is still runs successfully.

4.4. Potential error resolution with the usage Java version

If you are using a modern Java version in one of your plug-ins, you may have to instruct Tycho to use this.

In the above build file, the following line is commented out.

    <executionEnvironment>JavaSE-15</executionEnvironment>

If you are errors like the following, uncomment this line with the highest Java version number one of your components is using.

[ERROR]   Cannot satisfy dependency: com.vogella.tasks.services 1.0.0.qualifier depends on: osgi.ee; (&(osgi.ee=JavaSE)(version=15))
[ERROR]   Cannot satisfy dependency: org.eclipse.justj.openjdk.hotspot.jre.full 15.0.1.v20201027-0507 depends on: org.eclipse.equinox.p2.iu; a.jre.javase 0.0.0
[ERROR]   Cannot satisfy dependency: org.eclipse.justj.openjdk.hotspot.jre.full.linux.x86_64 15.0.1.v20201027-0507 depends on: osgi.bundle; org.eclipse.justj.openjdk.hotspot.jre.full [15.0.1,15.0.2)

5. Exercise: Validate the build

5.1. Run the build

Run the build from the main directory via the following command:

mvn clean verify

This should result in a success message, similar to the following.

[INFO] Reactor Summary:
[INFO]
[INFO] releng 1.0.0-SNAPSHOT .............................. SUCCESS [  0.114 s]
[INFO] [bundle] First 1.0.0-SNAPSHOT ...................... SUCCESS [  0.803 s]
[INFO] [feature] Feature 1.0.0-SNAPSHOT ................... SUCCESS [  0.283 s]
[INFO] [product] Custom IDE 1.0.0 ......................... SUCCESS [  4.311 s]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time:  17.499 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2020-09-07T16:16:15+02:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Press F5 in the Eclipse IDE on your feature project to refresh it. You should 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.

5.2. Error resolution

If Tycho can not find a required plug-in or feature it gives an error message. The following is an example for a feature that requires a bundle but this bundle is not part of the build.

[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.

In this case you need to either add the required module to the build or if you consume it in binary form, add it to the target platform.

6. Exercise: Tycho build for update sites

The following exercise demonstrates how to build Eclipse p2 update sites with Maven Tycho.

6.1. Create a category definition file for the update site

Create a new project of type General called releng-updatesite.

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

Press the New Category button and create a new category with the :

com.vogella.tasks.update ID
"Task management update site" name.

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

6.2. Update the root pom

Add your new module to your root pom file.

 <modules>
    <!-- all modules as before -->
  <module>releng-updatesite</module> (1)
 </modules>

1	Adds the releng-updatesite pom to the aggregator build

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

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

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

Validate that the SNAPSHOT suffix of the JAR files in the repository directory was replaced with the build qualifier.

7. Exercise: Tycho build for test plug-ins

The following exercise demonstrates how to run unit tests with Tycho.

7.1. Adding the test dependencies

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

Therefore they are added to the target platform by using the Orbit repository. Please note that URL above is not a p2 update site, can can browse this website to find update sites.

The Orbit repository URLs might change over time.

Currently the following is working: https://download.eclipse.org/tools/orbit/downloads/drops/R20200224183213/repository.

In case this is not valid any more go to Orbit and look for the latest Orbit repository URL.

For test purposes the target definition could look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<?pde version="3.8"?>
<target name="target-platform">
    <locations>
        <location includeAllPlatforms="false" includeConfigurePhase="true" includeMode="planner" includeSource="true" type="InstallableUnit">
            <repository location="http://download.eclipse.org/releases/2020-03"/>
            <unit id="org.eclipse.equinox.sdk.feature.group" version="0.0.0"/>
            <unit id="org.eclipse.platform.sdk" version="0.0.0"/>
        </location>
        <location includeAllPlatforms="false" includeConfigurePhase="true" includeMode="planner" includeSource="    true" type="InstallableUnit">
            <repository location="https://download.eclipse.org/tools/orbit/downloads/drops/R20200224183213/repository"/>
            <unit id="org.hamcrest.core" version="1.3.0.v20180420-1519"/>
            <unit id="org.hamcrest.library" version="1.3.0.v20180524-2246"/>
            <unit id="org.mockito" version="2.23.0.v20190527-1420"/>
            <unit id="org.junit" version="4.13.0.v20200204-1500"/>
        </location>
    </locations>
</target>

7.2. Create a new plug-in for the tests

The tests of the implementation belong into a separate plug-in or fragment project called com.vogella.tasks.ui.tests.

Create a new plug-in fragment project called com.vogella.tasks.ui.tests.

Define a dependency on org.junit in its MANIFEST.MF file.

Manifest-Version: 1.0
Bundle-ManifestVersion: 2
Bundle-Name: Tests
Bundle-SymbolicName: com.vogella.tasks.ui.tests
Bundle-Version: 1.0.0.qualifier
Bundle-Vendor: VOGELLA
Automatic-Module-Name: com.vogella.tasks.ui.tests
Bundle-RequiredExecutionEnvironment: JavaSE-11
Fragment-Host: com.vogella.tasks.ui
Require-Bundle: org.junit;bundle-version="4.13.0"

The defaults are sufficient for this test plug-in, hence we need do not need a separate pom for the test plug-in.

7.3. 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.tasks.ui.tests;

import static org.junit.Assert.*;

import org.junit.Test;

public class ExampleTest {

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

}

7.4. 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

7.5. Create test report

Run the following command to create test reports:

mvn clean verify surefire-report:report

You find the report in {basedir}/target/site/surefire-report.html.

7.6. 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 Remote Java Application debug configuration to connect to the test.

8. Exercise: Adding a JRE to your application

8.1. Description

It is possible to add a JRE to your application so that so additional Java installation is required.

For this add the p2 update to your target definition or to your p2 update in your Tycho build file.

If you are using p2 update sites in your Tycho build:

 <repository>
      <id>justj</id>
      <url>https://download.eclipse.org/justj/jres/14/updates/release/latest/</url>
      <layout>p2</layout>
 </repository>

If you are using a target platform in your Tycho build:

<location includeAllPlatforms="false" includeConfigurePhase="true" includeMode="planner" includeSource="true" type="InstallableUnit">
    <repository location="https://download.eclipse.org/justj/jres/14/updates/release/latest/"/>
    <unit id="org.eclipse.justj.openjdk.hotspot.jre.full" version="0.0.0"/>
</location>

Afterwards add the org.eclipse.justj.openjdk.hotspot.jre.full feature to your product.

Run the Tycho build, the zip should now also contain a JRE.

8.2. Solution

The product may look like the following:

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

<product name="to-do" uid="com.vogella.tasks" id="com.vogella.tasks.ui.product" application="org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.swt.E4Application" version="0.0.1" useFeatures="true" includeLaunchers="true">

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

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

   <launcher>
      <win useIco="false">
         <bmp/>
      </win>
   </launcher>

   <vm>
   </vm>

   <plugins>
   </plugins>

   <features>
      <feature id="com.vogella.tasks.feature" installMode="root"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.e4.rcp" installMode="root"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.emf.ecore" installMode="root"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.emf.common" installMode="root"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core.feature" installMode="root"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.ecf.core.ssl.feature" installMode="root"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.ecf.filetransfer.ssl.feature" installMode="root"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.ecf.core.feature" installMode="root"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.ecf.filetransfer.httpclient45.feature" installMode="root"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.ecf.filetransfer.feature" installMode="root"/>
      <feature id="org.eclipse.justj.openjdk.hotspot.jre.full" installMode="root"/>
   </features>

   <configurations>
      <plugin id="org.apache.felix.scr" autoStart="true" startLevel="2" />
      <plugin id="org.eclipse.core.runtime" autoStart="true" startLevel="0" />
      <plugin id="org.eclipse.equinox.common" autoStart="true" startLevel="2" />
      <plugin id="org.eclipse.equinox.event" autoStart="true" startLevel="2" />
      <plugin id="org.eclipse.equinox.simpleconfigurator" autoStart="true" startLevel="1" />
   </configurations>

</product>

The mastet pom should look like:

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

 <properties>
  <tycho.version>2.0.0</tycho.version>
  <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
  <eclipse-repo.url>http://download.eclipse.org/releases/latest</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>
        <target>
                        <artifact>
                            <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
                            <artifactId>target-platform</artifactId>
                            <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
                        </artifact>
            </target>
    <resolveWithExecutionEnvironmentConstraints>false</resolveWithExecutionEnvironmentConstraints>

     <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>
 <modules>
  <module>com.vogella.tasks.ui</module>
  <module>com.vogella.tasks.feature</module>
  <module>com.vogella.tasks.product</module>
  <module>com.vogella.tasks.model</module>
  <module>com.vogella.tasks.services</module>
  <module>com.vogella.service.imageloader</module>
  <module>com.vogella.tasks.events</module>
  <module>com.vogella.tasks.update</module>
  <module>target-platform</module>
 </modules>
</project>

9. Exercise: Tycho build for SWTBot tests

The following exercise demonstrates how to run SWTBot tests with Tycho. It assumes that you already created some SWTBot tests in a plug-in named com.example.e4.swtbottests.

9.1. Pom file for SWTBot tests

For SWTBot tests 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>

9.2. 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_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.

9.3. 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>

9.4. Run the build with the tests

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

10. More Tycho settings

10.1. 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.

10.2. 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>2.2.0</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

10.3. 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 its 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>

10.4. 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).

10.5. 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>

10.6. Mirroring a p2 update site with Maven Tycho

Tycho allows to mirror a p2 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 which mirrors two features from the latest Eclipse release

<?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>2.3.0</tycho.version>
        <tycho-extras.version>2.3.0</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/latest/</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>
                        <query>
                            <expression>id == $0 &amp;&amp; version == $1</expression>
                            <parameters>org.eclipse.platform.sdk,4.19.0.I20210303-1800</parameters>
                        </query>
                    </iu>
                    -->

                    <iu>
                        <id>org.eclipse.equinox.sdk.feature.group</id>
                    </iu>

                    <iu>
                        <id>org.eclipse.e4.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>

            </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>

10.7. 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>

10.8. 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>

10.9. Generating and updating POM files for Eclipse components

10.9.1. 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

10.10. Update the Maven artifact versiond in the pom files based on the MANIFEST.MF

If you are using individual pom files, you can update their numbers based on the versions in the `MANIFEST.MF`file. To do this, run the following commands.

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

10.11. 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.

10.12. 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.

10.13. 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>

10.14. Building platform specific fragments or bundles

As of Bug 567782 you can use pomless builds for platform specific fragments. It is also possible to specify it in the pom of the element in case you do not use pomless builds.

More infos on pom for platform specific artifacts

When building a fragment for a certain operating system, you can override the <environments> configuration from your parent POM. This requires a pom file in fragment or bundle.

<project>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>com.vogella.tycho.example.linux.x86_64</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>

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

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <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>
                    </environments>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

The following entries are possible:

Linux

<configuration>
                    <environments>
                        <environment>
                            <os>linux</os>
                            <ws>gtk</ws>
                            <arch>x86_64</arch>
                        </environment>
                    </environments>
                </configuration>

<configuration>
                    <environments>
                        <environment>
                            <os>macosx</os>
                            <ws>cocoa</ws>
                            <arch>x86_64</arch>
                        </environment>
                    </environments>
                </configuration>

Windows

<configuration>
                    <environments>
                        <environment>
                            <os>win32</os>
                            <ws>win32</ws>
                            <arch>x86_64</arch>
                        </environment>
                    </environments>
                </configuration>

10.15. Shell script for generating pom files

Sometimes it is useful to generate the pom files automatically. Here is an example shell script which creates a module entry for each directory in the current directory.

#!/bin/bash

cd $(dirname $0)

BASEDIR=`basename pwd`
echo "Creating pom.xml for $BASEDIR"

cat > pom.xml <<- EOM
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.vogella.tycho</groupId>
    <artifactId>$BASEDIR</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>

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

    <modules>
EOM

modules=`ls -l|  grep '^d'  | awk '{ print "<module>"$9"</module>" }'`

echo "$modules" >> pom.xml


cat >> pom.xml <<- EOM
    </modules>
</project>
EOM

cat pom.xml

10.16. 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

11. 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/

12. 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

13. Deploy p2 updatesite to Nexus

13.1. 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>

13.2. 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.

13.3. 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>

14. Individual poms

Sometimes pomless build fails or your want to configure something directly. Therefore, this section lists individual poms.

14.1. Pom files for target definition files

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

</project>

15. Eclipse Tycho resources

Tycho example

JustJ documentation

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

16. vogella training and consulting support

Online Training

Onsite Training

Consulting

Appendix A: Copyright, License and Source code

Copyright © 2012-2019 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.

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