[ECLIPSE] First version available :-)

[Pantelis Koukousoulas]

Hello :-)

As a christmas present, the first pre-pre-pre-alpha version of an
eclipse package is now available :-)

Even in this very preliminary stage it should already be "better" than
the other unofficial 3.4.x package in existence.

Features:
       * It should build in
                   * debian sid
                   * ubuntu intrepid + the fakeroot from my PPA (had
to track down a FUTEX_WAIT hang, fun :-)

       * Installing additional plug-ins using P2 should work once you
add the ganymede URL manually. The plug-ins will be installed under
         ~/.eclipse

       * It should have enough "native" runtime dependencies so that
it actually starts when you install it  unlike the blob from
eclipse.org :-)
         (the blob needs you to install manually libxul to get it to
work, at least on vanilla ubuntu)

       *  It should work with no obvious bugs, at least I have used it
for at least 30 minutes and have not had any problems so far. That is
of course,
          unless I managed to introduce other bugs that testing did
not catch :-)

       * It allows you to work on either dependencies, or packaging
extra plug-ins as debian packages or binary subpackages or all of
those and
         have something to test your work with :-) - If things keep
working with your changes, most likely your patch will be accepted :-)

       * I have dropped ALL not-absolutely-essential features in favor
of having things work from the POV of the user so it is almost
possible to
          understand how the packaging  works :-)  (hint: focus on the
pretty big/hairy scripts under debian/scripts)

       * The debian/ folder is available in gitorious (so you don't
need to download a 150MB source package just to view the packaging
source)
             git clone git://gitorious.org/eclipse-debian/mainline.git
          This also means you can use all gitorious cool git features
("clone", "request merge", etc)

       * There exists a bug tracker via a Launchpad project in
             https://bugs.launchpad.net/eclipse-debian with 31 bugs
already open (though I think I can now close at least 2 of them :-)
             Feel free to add more, but check for duplicates first!

       * GCJ dropped, builds/uses openjdk-6 now which means no bizarre
random segfaults all over the place, undoubtedly a good thing :-)

       * The SWT .so files are built from source. The .so files that
come with the source zip are explicitly deleted before the build

       * Eclipse can now be started with just /usr/bin/eclipse so it
is easy to set your desktop shortcuts and such

       * native libraries that are in .jars (like SWT and a few more)
are pre-extracted using the equinox fileinitializer app so you can
          easily do ldd on them or mount your $HOME with noexec
(assuming you don't install more plug-ins like CDT - that need native
          libraries - via P2)

Usage:

        * debianers:
                    1) git clone
git://gitorious.org/eclipse-debian/mainline.git eclipse-3.4.1
                    2) cd eclipse-3.4.1
                    3) debian/rules debian/control (don't be scared by
the error message)
                    4) debian/rules get-orig-source (wait a loooooong
time unless you have super-fast connection)
                    5) debuild  (wait a looooooong time unless you
have your own compile cluster *and*  you have it set up so that it
parallelizes automatically)
                    6) Install resulting package with sudo dpkg -i
                    7) profit:  /usr/bin/eclipse goodness :-)

        * ubunteros
                     * Either go to my PPA page:
                            * https://launchpad.net/~pktoss/+archive/
                           and copy the binary to your own ppa, or
copy *both* the fakeroot and eclipse source packages and let launchpad
build them

                      * Or, just enable my ppa in your sources.list:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pktoss/ubuntu intrepid main

                                 deb-src
http://ppa.launchpad.net/pktoss/ubuntu intrepid main
                         and just apt-get install eclipse
                         AND THEN DISABLE THE PPA AGAIN RIGHT AWAY or
you *will* break your system with my experimental stuff :-)

                      * Or,  install the fakeroot from my ppa and
follow the procedure mentioned for debianers

You see I 'm all about choice :-)


Limitations: (Too many to list here, the below is just a summary, see
bugtracker for more details)

        * I haven't touched any copyright stuff, review is most likely needed.

        * No binary subpackages. This is for simplicity. A single
eclipse-full package installs everything.
           This means though that we don't play nice (yet) with other
packages that need only parts of eclipse.

        * No symlinked jar dependencies neither at build nor at
runtime. Instead we use whatever comes with the source .zip
          This is against debian policy quite likely.

        * Installing stuff under /usr/share/eclipse,
/usr/local/lib/eclipse, /usr/local/share/eclipse not yet supported.

        * No branding neither for ubuntu nor for debian

        * No manpage(s)

        * No desktop / menu integration

       * No framework/tools to make packaging additional plug-ins easy

       * We build our own SWT instead of  using the library already in debian

       * Supports / tested with only i386 and amd64

        * No clear / specific eclipse-only policy

        * Other stuff I 'm probably forgetting, see bugzilla

I repeat: this is *not* yet ready for debian/ubuntu but it is a
reasonable start :-)

So, please be kind and test, review, hack, improve, file and fix bugs,
send patches ask questions etc  :-)

Let the flames begin,
Pantelis