Generic workbench structure

Last modified 17:30 EST November 7, 2003

N.B. The changes described here are still a work-in-progress.

Table of contents:

Existing plug-in and API structure of 2.1 Platform UI
Proposed plug-in and API restructuring plan for Platform UI
Proposed plug-in and API structure of 3.0 Platform UI

Existing plug-in and API structure of 2.1 Platform UI

The big picture:

Prior to 2.1, the org.eclipse.ui plug-in was the monolithic implementation of the Eclipse Platform UI. The above picture reflects the restructuring that done for 2.1 which introduced several new plug-ins:

org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.ui.workbench
org.eclipse.ui.views
org.eclipse.text
org.eclipse.jface.text
org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor
org.eclipse.ui.editors

The workbench is in principal independent from text editors (org.eclipse.text, org.eclipse.jface.text, org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor, and org.eclipse.ui.editors plug-ins). The exceptions are:

SystemSummaryEditor is a special purpose text editor defined in the org.eclipse.ui.editors plug-in and used by the workbench's about dialog.
The workbench internal class SelectionEnabler refers to ITextSelection.
The definition of extension points and the declaration of extensions for which the text editor plug-ins partially use org.eclipse.ui
The usage of the workbench's preference store and logging facilities by the text editor plug-ins
org.eclipse.ui re-exports text editor plug-ins.

(3) through (5) were done to provide compatibility for clients dependent on org.eclipse.ui before it was split up. Sustaining compatibility also required that API package names be kept stable, and this resulted in places where classes in the same package come from several "package extensions" distributed across plug-ins. The 3 instance of this are:

Package org.eclipse.jface.text is declared in the org.eclipse.jface.text plug-in and extended in the org.eclipse.text plug-in.
Package org.eclipse.ui.actions is declared in the org.eclipse.ui.workbench plug-in and extended in the org.eclipse.ui.views plug-in.
Package org.eclipse.ui.texteditor is declared in the org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor plug-in and extended in the org.eclipse.ui.editors plug-in.

Existing API map: list of API packages, extension points, and the plug-ins that declare them.

plug-in org.eclipse.ui

Notes:

This plug-in is the front man for the entire Platform UI. Although this plug-in has no API of its own, it re-exports the API from several plug-ins: org.eclipse.swt, org.eclipse.text, org.eclipse.jface, org.eclipse.jface.text, org.eclipse.ui.workbench, org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor, org.eclipse.ui.views, and org.eclipse.ui.editors. This plug-in declares most of the Platform UI extension points, including most of the ones for text editors.

Required plug-ins

org.apache.xerces
org.eclipse.core.resources
org.eclipse.help
org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.jface.text
org.eclipse.swt
org.eclipse.text
org.eclipse.ui.editors
org.eclipse.ui.views
org.eclipse.ui.workbench
org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor
org.eclipse.update.core

API packages

None of its own.
Although this plug-in has no API of its own, it re-exports the API from several plug-ins: org.eclipse.swt, org.eclipse.text, org.eclipse.jface, org.eclipse.jface.text, org.eclipse.ui.workbench, org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor, org.eclipse.ui.views, and org.eclipse.ui.editors. This plug-in declares most of the Platform UI extension points, including most of the ones for text editors.

Extension points

actionSetPartAssociations
actionSets
commands
decorators
documentProviders
dropActions
editorActions
editors
elementFactories
exportWizards
fontDefinitions
importWizards
markerHelp
markerImageProviders
markerResolution
markerUpdaters
newWizards
perspectiveExtensions
perspectives
popupMenus
preferencePages
projectNatureImages
propertyPages
resourceFilters
startup
viewActions
views
workingSets

plug-in org.eclipse.ui.win32

Notes:

This is a plug-in fragment of the org.eclipse.ui plug-in.
This fragment adds OLE editor support (Windows). This fragment does not contribute any API.

API packages

none

Extension points

none

plug-in org.eclipse.jface

Notes:

This plug-in contains all of JFace except text-related viewers.
The API packages for this plug-in are exported to the world by the org.eclipse.ui plug-in. However, there is nothing preventing existing plug-ins from referring to this plug-in directly.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.swt
org.eclipse.core.runtime
org.apache.xerces

API packages

org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.jface.action
org.eclipse.jface.action.images
org.eclipse.jface.dialogs
org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.images
org.eclipse.jface.images
org.eclipse.jface.operation
org.eclipse.jface.preference
org.eclipse.jface.preference.images
org.eclipse.jface.progress
org.eclipse.jface.resource
org.eclipse.jface.util
org.eclipse.jface.viewers
org.eclipse.jface.window
org.eclipse.jface.wizard
org.eclipse.jface.wizard.images

Extension points

none

plug-in org.eclipse.text

Notes:

This plug-in contains the basic non-GUI text infrastructure (no dependence on JFace text).
The API packages for this plug-in are exported to the world by the org.eclipse.ui plug-in. However, there is nothing preventing existing plug-ins from referring to this plug-in directly.
The API for this package is in an extension of the org.eclipse.jface.text package for historical reasons of API compatibility. The preferred API package name would be org.eclipse.text.

Required plug-ins

none

API packages

org.eclipse.jface.text (* - extension of package declared in org.eclipse.jface.text plug-in)

Extension points

none

plug-in org.eclipse.jface.text

Notes:

This plug-in contains the GUI text infrastructure.
The API for this plug-in depends on both JFace and the non-GUI text infrastructure.
The API packages for this plug-in are exported to the world by the org.eclipse.ui plug-in. However, there is nothing preventing existing plug-ins from referring to this plug-in directly.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.swt
org.eclipse.text

API packages

org.eclipse.jface.text (* - extended by org.eclipse.text plug-in)
org.eclipse.jface.text.contentassist
org.eclipse.jface.text.formatter
org.eclipse.jface.text.information
org.eclipse.jface.text.presentation
org.eclipse.jface.text.reconciler
org.eclipse.jface.text.rules
org.eclipse.jface.text.source

Extension points

none

plug-in org.eclipse.ui.workbench

Notes:

This plug-in contains the bulk of the API and implementation for the workbench. It has the API for editors and views (particular views and editors are defined elsewhere).
The API packages for this plug-in are exported to the world by the org.eclipse.ui plug-in. However, there is nothing preventing existing plug-ins from referring to this plug-in directly.
This plug-in has a small number of API and internal dependencies on org.eclipse.core.resources, notably for IMarker and IResource. By and large the API is "resource-free".
This plug-in has an (internal) dependence on org.eclipse.jface.text for ITextSelection, but is otherwise independent of text editor support.
This plug-in has an (internal) dependence on org.eclipse.update.core for launching the update manager when there are plug-in incoming updates on startup, and for extracting feature and plug-in info to show in the about dialog.

Required plug-ins

org.apache.xerces
org.eclipse.core.resources
org.eclipse.help
org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.jface.text
org.eclipse.swt
org.eclipse.update.core

API packages

org.eclipse.ui
org.eclipse.ui.actions (* - extended by org.eclipse.ui.views plug-in)
org.eclipse.ui.commands
org.eclipse.ui.contexts
org.eclipse.ui.dialogs
org.eclipse.ui.help
org.eclipse.ui.wizards.newresource
org.eclipse.ui.model
org.eclipse.ui.part
org.eclipse.ui.plugin
org.eclipse.ui.progress
org.eclipse.ui.wizards.datatransfer

Extension points

none

plug-in org.eclipse.ui.views

Notes:

This plug-in contains the API and implementation for the workbench's standard views.
The API packages for this plug-in are exported to the world by the org.eclipse.ui plug-in. However, there is nothing preventing existing plug-ins from referring to this plug-in directly.
Some of the API for this package is in an extension of the org.eclipse.ui.actions package for historical reasons of API compatibility. The sole class in this extension is AddTaskAction.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.core.resources
org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.help
org.eclipse.ui.workbench

API packages

org.eclipse.ui.views.bookmarkexplorer
org.eclipse.ui.views.contentoutline
org.eclipse.ui.views.framelist
org.eclipse.ui.views.markers
org.eclipse.ui.views.markers.internal
org.eclipse.ui.views.navigator
org.eclipse.ui.views.properties
org.eclipse.ui.views.tasklist
org.eclipse.ui.actions (* - extension of package declared in org.eclipse.ui.workbench plug-in)

Extension points

none

plug-in org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor

Notes:

This plug-in contains the API and implementation for the workbench's text editor framework.
The API packages for this plug-in are exported to the world by the org.eclipse.ui plug-in. However, there is nothing preventing existing plug-ins from referring to this plug-in directly.
This plug-in has a minor API dependency on org.eclipse.core.resources for IMarker, but is otherwise "resource-free".

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.core.resources
org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.jface.text
org.eclipse.text
org.eclipse.ui.workbench

API packages

org.eclipse.ui.texteditor (* - extended by org.eclipse.ui.editors plug-in)

Extension points

markerAnnotationSpecification

plug-in org.eclipse.ui.editors

Notes:

This plug-in contains the standard text editor and the API and implementation for editing IFile-based documents.
The API packages for this plug-in are exported to the world by the org.eclipse.ui plug-in. However, there is nothing preventing existing plug-ins from referring to this plug-in directly.
Some of the API for this package is in an extension of the org.eclipse.ui.texteditor package for historical reasons of API compatibility.
The SystemSummaryEditor that is part of the org.eclipse.ui.editors plug-in is used only by the workbench's about dialog.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.core.resources
org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.jface.text
org.eclipse.text
org.eclipse.ui.views
org.eclipse.ui.workbench
org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor
org.eclipse.update.core

API packages

org.eclipse.ui.editors.quickdiff
org.eclipse.ui.editors.text
org.eclipse.ui.texteditor (* - extension of package declared in org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor plug-in)

Extension points

quickDiffReferenceProvider

org.eclipse.ui.versioncheck

Notes:

This plug-in is run on startup when there is a discrepancy between the version recorded in the metadata area and the version of the Eclipse platform doing the opening.
This plug-in has no API or extension points.
This plug-in bypasses the Platform UI by taking directly to SWT if it needs to talk to the user.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.swt

API packages

None

Extension points

None

plug-in org.eclipse.help

Notes:

This plug-in contains the non-UI API portion of the help system, and some of the help system implementation.
The IHelp interface is what org.eclipse.ui.workbench calls to display help to the user. The implementation of IHelp is supplied by org.eclipse.help.ui plug-in and is contributed via the org.eclipse.help.support extension point.

Required plug-ins

org.apache.xerces
org.apache.lucene
org.eclipse.help.appserver

API packages

org.eclipse.help
org.eclipse.help.browser
org.eclipse.help.standalone

Extension points

browser
contentProducer
contexts
luceneAnalyzer
support
toc
webapp

plug-in org.eclipse.help.ui

Notes:

This plug-in contains the UI- and workbench-specific portion of the help system. This plug-in contributes an implementation of IHelp to an org.eclipse.help extension point.
This plug-in has a dependency on org.eclipse.search because it contributes help search. The search UI is based on IMarkers, hence the dependence on org.eclipse.core.resources as well.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.core.resources
org.eclipse.help
org.eclipse.help.appserver
org.eclipse.search
org.eclipse.ui

API packages

org.eclipse.help.ui.browser

Extension points

None

Proposed plug-in and API restructuring plan for Platform UI

Tease apart the workbench into a "generic workbench", which can be tailored for use by arbitrary applications, and a specific IDE application that tailors the generic workbench for its purposes.
By "generic" we mean application independent.
The generic workbench has empty menus.
The generic workbench should be reasonably lean.
Move IDE-specific API from the generic workbench API into an IDE-specific API package in an IDE-specific plug-in.
Move IDE-specific internals from the generic workbench implementation into an IDE-specific plug-in.
Move generic UI extension points into the generic workbench plug-in, and IDE-specific extension points into an IDE-specific plug-in.
Add new API to generic workbench so that an application, like the IDE, can configure the generic workbench to suit without having to reach into the internals of the workbench implementation.
Allow generic editors (such as the text editor) and generic views (such as the properties view) to be used with the generic workbench, but as an optional extra.
The most likely source of breaking API changes will be the moving of IDE-specific API from the generic workbench.
But it's hard to gauge breakage in the abstract. We need to dig into the details to discover both problems and available solutions.
Without further ado, here is how we propose to tease things apart.
In broad strokes:
- The existing org.eclipse.ui plug-in, and its buddy org.eclipse.ui.workbench, is the best starting point for the generic workbench.
- There needs to be a new plug-in to hold the IDE-specific workbench. Call this org.eclipse.ui.ide.
- The generic API and implementation is already in the org.eclipse.ui.workbench plug-in. These stay.
- There is some IDE-specific API in the org.eclipse.ui.workbench plug-in. This needs to move up into the org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in.
- There is some IDE-specific internal implementation in the org.eclipse.ui.workbench plug-in. This needs to move up into the org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in.
- The Platform UI extension points are currently in org.eclipse.ui plug-in. The generic non-editor ones stay; the generic editor-related ones move to generic text editor; the IDE-specific ones move to one of the IDE-specific plug-ins.
- The views in the org.eclipse.ui.views plug-in are split up, with the generic views (properties, content outline) remaining in the plug-in, and the IDE-specific views going to the org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in.
- The text editors in org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor are almost completely generic already, with the IDE-specific parts already isolated in org.eclipse.ui.editors. The remaining IDE-specific dependencies would need to be moved from the org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor plug-in to the org.eclipse.ui.editors plug-in. Both of these plug-ins would be retained. The generic text editor extension points move from the org.eclipse.ui plug-in to the org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor plug-in.
- The org.eclipse.ui plug-in now contains just the generic workbench. It does not include the generic views or text editors.
- The org.eclipse.ui plug-in can re-export the APIs from the plug-ins that it's API depends on, namely: from the org.eclipse.swt and org.eclipse.jface plug-ins. It is no longer dependent on org.eclipse.text, org.eclipse.jface.text, org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor, org.eclipse.ui.views, or org.eclipse.ui.editors; so it is no longer in a position re-export any of their APIs.
- The new org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in would now declare its API in eponymous org.eclipse.ui.ide[.*] packages.
- The new org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in is dependent on the new org.eclipse.ui plug-in.
- From the point of view of a regular plug-in, the org.eclipse.ui plug-in loses (a) all its IDE-specific API and extension points to the new org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in, (b) all its text editor-specific aspects to the new (as far as it knows) org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor and org.eclipse.ui.editors plug-ins, and (c) all its view-specific aspects to the new org.eclipse.ui.views and org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-ins. For clients that depended on the IDE-specific parts, text editors, or particular views, these changes are breaking. Existing simple clients that only depend on the generic parts of org.eclipse.ui are not affected.
- Although the new org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in could re-export the APIs from the plug-ins that its API depends on, the practice of re-exporting APIs is not something we want to encourage. It is just as easy in this case for clients to require the individual plug-ins that they need.
- The generic workbench depends on the org.eclipse.help plug-in for certain API classes it defines, such as IHelp.
- The org.eclipse.help plug-in declares extension points, including those for contributing help documents (toc, contexts, support).
- The org.eclipse.help plug-in also includes help system implementation not needed as a necessary part of the generic workbench implementation, and extension points into which parts of the implementation get contributed (browser, appServer, lucene).
- We split the org.eclipse.help plug-in in two: the org.eclipse.help plug-in retains the API and extension points for contributing help documents; a new org.eclipse.help.base plug-in gets most of the implementation and the extension points for configuring the implementation; the org.eclipse.help.support extension point moves to the org.eclipse.ui plug-in, renamed to "helpSupport", and simplified so that the only thing contributed is the UI for displaying help . The generic workbench plug-in depends only on org.eclipse.help, and the arrangement allows an application to either use the existing help UI or provide their own.
- The IHelp interface in the org.eclipse.help plug-in contains display() methods that the workbench calls to invoke the UI, as well as methods for navigating the tree of help content. We deprecate the IHelp interface; the methods for accessing help system content become static API methods on a new HelpSystem class in the org.eclipse.help plug-in; the display methods move to the UI's existing WorkbenchHelp API class. A new AbstractHelpUI class in the org.eclipse.ui.help package in the org.eclipse.ui plug-in provides the contract for the org.eclipse.ui.helpSupport extension point.
- The help search implementation is moved out of the existing org.eclipse.help.ui plug-in to a new org.eclipse.help.ide plug-in to make make org.eclipse.help.ui independent of markers and the IDE. This allows there to be a generic help component (consisting of the org.eclipse.help.ui and org.eclipse.help.base plug-ins plus dependents) which can be used with the generic workbench.
- For further details on the restructuring of the help plug-ins, see here.

Proposed plug-in and API structure of 3.0 Platform UI

The big picture:

plug-in org.eclipse.ui

Notes:

This plug-in is the front man for the generic workbench portion of the Platform UI. The code for this plug-in is in org.eclipse.ui.workbench.
This plug-in declares the workbench's generic extension points (but none that are specific to the text editor or the generic views).
This plug-in re-exports the API of the org.eclipse.swt, org.eclipse.jface, and org.eclipse.ui.workbench plug-ins.
This plug-in does not depend on org.eclipse.core.resources. Everything having to do with workspace resources is found in the IDE-specific workbench (org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in).
This plug-in does not depend on org.eclipse.update.core.
This plug-in does not depend on org.eclipse.jface.text or org.eclipse.text. Optional generic text editor support is found in the org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor.
This plug-in still depends on org.eclipse.help.
The branch work for this plug-in will be done in the existing org.eclipse.ui project.

Required plug-ins

org.apache.xerces
org.eclipse.core.runtime
org.eclipse.help
org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.swt

API packages

None (generic workbench API and most of implementation are in the org.eclipse.ui.workbench plug-in.)
Re-exports API from org.eclipse.ui.workbench, org.eclipse.swt, org.eclipse.jface

Extension points

actionSetPartAssociations
actionSets
commands
decorators
dropActions
editorActions
editors
exportWizards
elementFactories
fontDefinitions
helpSupport (formerly support in org.eclipse.help)
importWizards
newWizards
perspectiveExtensions
perspectives
popupMenus
preferencePages
propertyPages
startup
viewActions
views
workingSets

plug-in fragment org.eclipse.ui.win32

This plug-in fragment of org.eclipse.ui plug-in is unchanged. (We are investigating whether this can be turned into a regular plug-in, to simplify things.) An application would include this fragment (or plug-in) only if they need support for OLE editors.

API packages

none

Extension points

none

plug-in org.eclipse.ui.workbench

Notes:

This plug-in contains the bulk of the API and implementation for the generic workbench. It has the API for editors and views (particular views and editors are defined elsewhere).
The API packages for this plug-in are exported to the world by the org.eclipse.ui plug-in.
This plug-in does not depend on org.eclipse.core.resources. Everything having to do with workspace resources is found in the IDE-specific workbench (org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in).
This plug-in does not depend on org.eclipse.update.core.
This plug-in does not depend on org.eclipse.jface.text or org.eclipse.text. Optional generic text editor support is found in the org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor.
This plug-in does contain any specific views. Generic views are in the optional org.eclipse.ui.views plug-in (IDE-specific views are in the org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in).
This plug-in still depends on org.eclipse.help.
The branch work for this plug-in will be done in the existing org.eclipse.ui.workbench project; the project and plug-in rename will be left to the very end, so that we can easily merge changes from HEAD.

Required plug-ins

org.apache.xerces
org.eclipse.core.runtime
org.eclipse.help
org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.swt

API packages

org.eclipse.ui (generic classes only - IDE-specific classes moved to the org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in).
org.eclipse.ui.actions (generic classes only - IDE-specific classes moved to the org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in).
org.eclipse.ui.application (new package for application-specific configuration of the workbench).
org.eclipse.ui.commands
org.eclipse.ui.contexts
org.eclipse.ui.dialogs (generic classes only, such as PropertyDialogAction and ListSelectionDialog - IDE-specific classes moved to the org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in).
org.eclipse.ui.help
org.eclipse.ui.model
org.eclipse.ui.part (generic classes only - IDE-specific classes, such as FileEditorInput, moved to the org.eclipse.ui.ide plug-in).
org.eclipse.ui.plugin
org.eclipse.ui.progress

Extension points

None (generic workbench extension points are in the org.eclipse.ui plug-in.)

plug-in org.eclipse.jface

This plug-in is unscathed. Its API is still surfaced to the world via the org.eclipse.ui plug-in re-exporting it.

Notes:

This plug-in contains all of JFace except text-related viewers.
This plug-in is internal to the existing Platform UI. It's API is exported to the world by the org.eclipse.ui plug-in.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.swt
org.eclipse.core.runtime
org.apache.xerces

API packages

org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.jface.action
org.eclipse.jface.action.images
org.eclipse.jface.dialogs
org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.images
org.eclipse.jface.images
org.eclipse.jface.operation
org.eclipse.jface.preference
org.eclipse.jface.preference.images
org.eclipse.jface.progress
org.eclipse.jface.resource
org.eclipse.jface.util
org.eclipse.jface.viewers
org.eclipse.jface.window
org.eclipse.jface.wizard
org.eclipse.jface.wizard.images

Extension points

none

plug-in org.eclipse.text

Notes:

Unchanged (assuming API remains in a org.eclipse.jface.text package extension).

Required plug-ins

none

API packages

org.eclipse.jface.text (a package extension of an API package declared by org.eclipse.jface.text plug-in)

Extension points

none

plug-in org.eclipse.jface.text

Notes:

Unchanged (assuming org.eclipse.text API remains in a org.eclipse.jface.text package extension).

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.jface
org.eclipse.text
org.eclipse.swt

API packages

org.eclipse.jface.text (this package is extended in org.eclipse.text plug-in)
org.eclipse.jface.text.contentassist
org.eclipse.jface.text.formatter
org.eclipse.jface.text.information
org.eclipse.jface.text.presentation
org.eclipse.jface.text.reconciler
org.eclipse.jface.text.rules
org.eclipse.jface.text.source

Extension points

none

plug-in org.eclipse.ui.views

Notes:

This plug-in contains the generic properties and content outline views.
The generic views plug-in would be an optional component of the generic workbench.
The code for this comes from the existing org.eclipse.ui.views package.
The branch work for this plug-in will be done in the existing org.eclipse.ui.views project.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.ui (which also re-exports org.eclipse.swt and org.eclipse.jface)

API packages

org.eclipse.ui.views.properties
org.eclipse.ui.views.contentoutline

Extension points

None

plug-in org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor

Notes:

The generic text editor would be an optional component of the generic workbench.
All resource- or IDE-specific stuff is removed from this plug-in.
This plug-in does depend on org.eclipse.ui for things like IEditorPart
This plug-in no longer depends on org.eclipse.core.resources.
The branch work for this plug-in will be done in the existing org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor project.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.jface.text
org.eclipse.text
org.eclipse.ui (which also re-exports org.eclipse.swt and org.eclipse.jface)

API packages

org.eclipse.ui.texteditor

Extension points

markerAnnotationSpecification
markerUpdaters (formerly in org.eclipse.ui)
documentProviders (formerly in org.eclipse.ui)

plug-in org.eclipse.ui.ide

Notes:

The new IDE-specific workbench plug-in.
This is a new plug-in project. Much of the prototyping work can be done in HEAD.

Required plug-ins

org.apache.xerces
org.eclipse.core.runtime
org.eclipse.core.resources
org.eclipse.help
org.eclipse.jface.text
org.eclipse.text
org.eclipse.ui (which also re-exports org.eclipse.swt and org.eclipse.jface, and the internal org.eclipse.ui.workbench)
org.eclipse.ui.views
org.eclipse.ui.editors
org.eclipse.update.core

API packages

org.eclipse.ui.ide (new)
org.eclipse.ui.ide.actions (IDE-specific package extension of org.eclipse.ui.actions)
org.eclipse.ui.ide.dialogs (IDE-specific package extension of org.eclipse.ui.dialogs)
org.eclipse.ui.ide.part (IDE-specific package extension of org.eclipse.ui.part)
org.eclipse.ui.ide.wizards.newresource (formerly in org.eclipse.ui plug-in)
org.eclipse.ui.ide.wizards.datatransfer (formerly in org.eclipse.ui plug-in)
org.eclipse.ui.ide.views.navigator (formerly in org.eclipse.ui.views plug-in)
org.eclipse.ui.ide.views.bookmarkexplorer (formerly in org.eclipse.ui.views plug-in)
org.eclipse.ui.ide.views.markers (formerly in org.eclipse.ui.views plug-in)
org.eclipse.ui.ide.views.tasklist (formerly in org.eclipse.ui.views plug-in)
org.eclipse.ui.ide.views.framelist (formerly in org.eclipse.ui.views plug-in)

Extension points

markerHelp (formerly in org.eclipse.ui)
markerImageProviders (formerly in org.eclipse.ui)
markerResolution (formerly in org.eclipse.ui)
projectNatureImages (formerly in org.eclipse.ui)

plug-in org.eclipse.ui.editors

Notes:

IDE-specific text editors.
The branch work for this plug-in will be done in the existing org.eclipse.ui.editors project.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.core.resources
org.eclipse.jface.text
org.eclipse.text
org.eclipse.ui (which also re-exports org.eclipse.swt and org.eclipse.jface)
org.eclipse.ui.texteditor
org.eclipse.ui.ide

API packages

org.eclipse.ui.editors.quickdiff
org.eclipse.ui.editors.text
org.eclipse.ui.texteditor (extension of a package declared in org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor)

Extension points

quickDiffReferenceProvider

org.eclipse.ui.versioncheck

Notes:

This plug-in is unchanged.
Plug-in can simply be omitted in applications where there is no concern about warning the user of metadata version mismatches.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.swt

API packages

None

Extension points

None

plug-in org.eclipse.help

Notes:

This plug-in contains the main API and extension points of the help system. The help system implementation is now in org.eclipse.help.base.

Required plug-ins

org.apache.xerces

API packages

org.eclipse.help

Extension points

contentProducer
contexts
toc

plug-in org.eclipse.help.base

Notes:

This plug-in contains the bulk of the webapp-based help system implementation. The API and main extension points are still in org.eclipse.help.

Required plug-ins

org.apache.lucene
org.eclipse.help
org.eclipse.help.appserver

API packages

org.eclipse.help.browser (formerly in org.eclipse.help)
org.eclipse.help.standalone (formerly in org.eclipse.help)

Extension points

browser (formerly in org.eclipse.help)
luceneAnalyzer (formerly in org.eclipse.help)
webapp (formerly in org.eclipse.help)

plug-in org.eclipse.help.ui

Notes:

This plug-in contains the UI-specific portion of the help system. This plug-in contributes an implementation of the help UI to the org.eclipse.ui.helpSupport extension point.
This plug-in no longer depends on org.eclipse.search or org.eclipse.core.resources. The IDE-specific portion are now in the org.eclipse.help.ide plug-in.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.help
org.eclipse.help.base
org.eclipse.help.appserver
org.eclipse.ui

API packages

org.eclipse.help.ui.browser

Extension points

None

plug-in org.eclipse.help.ide

Notes:

This plug-in contains the UI-specific and IDE-specific portion of the help system.

Required plug-ins

org.eclipse.core.resources
org.eclipse.help
org.eclipse.help.base
org.eclipse.help.appserver
org.eclipse.ui
org.eclipse.ui.ide
org.eclipse.search

API packages

None

Extension points

None