#18 Support headless builds

[Nick Veys]

Currently it would seem headless builds are not possible (PDE, Buckminster, etc). Looking at the core, there are only a few dependencies on RCP UI components, and those look easily fixable. It would be nice to separate the sf.eclipse.javacc plugin from UI requirements and just supply the builder/nature/associated files in a 'core' plugin.

[Nick Veys]

I intend to do this shortly, and will submit a patch.

[Nick Veys]

Sourceforce isn't letting me attach the 'core' plugin, it's mostly just a refactor of the builder and nature, no longer having any UI dependencies. I've made a zip of the following:

* Patch against sf.eclipse.javacc - extracting the core plugin
* Patch against sf.eclipse.javacc.feature - adding javacc.core dependency
* Patch against sf.eclipse.javacc-web - adding new javacc.headless feature
* New sf.eclipse.javacc.core plugin
* New sf.eclipse.javacc.headless.feature feature

The ZIP is available here: http://veys.com/eclipse-javacc/eclipse-javacc-headless.zip

I release all of the modifications and any new work under the project's license(s).

[Nick Veys]

Probably useful to note this is built against HEAD, as of 20090617.

[Nick Veys]

Any comments? Should I get this updated to trunk and re-submit it?

[Marc MAZAS]

I would like to understand a little more your need for a "headless build".
Do you want to use the JavaCC or JTB included in the SF JavaCC Eclipse plugin to compile jj / jjt / jtb files in a script (in that case you can use them on the command line with command line options) ?
Do you want to integrate the plugin in another product (and so be able to integrate new versions / releases through nightly buids) ?
Or something else ?
TIA
Regards
Marc Mazas

[Nick Veys]

Well, we're currently using the JavaCC Eclipse version that I have posted in our Buckminster-based headless build of several PDE-based products. The real goal is a separation of UI-related components and core components, so the UI components are no longer needed to build, and makes for a much smaller, simpler build process. Our build of Buckminster only needs the core functionality of an Eclipse builder that understands 'jj' files, we do this on a continuous integration server, so it is headless and needs no UI to get this done.

The work was quite trivial, and allows better separation of UI concerns and core concerns as well.

More info on Buckminster is available here: http://www.eclipse.org/buckminster

[Nobody/Anonymous]

I made a new plugin, the Headless Plug-in, from the (refactored) normal plug-in, version 1.5.23.
It includes JavaCC 5.0 and JTB 1.4.3.
It can be installed through the Update Site http://eclipse-javacc.sourceforge.net/headless.
Can you try it and report any problem (I have no idea yet on how to test it locally).

[Marc MAZAS]

Available since 1.5.23.
Comment closed as no response to previous answer.

[Marc MAZAS]

Hi Nick
I'd like to know if you still use the headless plugin.
TIA.
Regards,
Marc

[Nick Veys]

No, I am no longer involved in anything in the Eclipse environment. Thanks!