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| Migration Questions [message #329158] |
Sat, 14 June 2008 23:06  |
Eclipse User |
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Originally posted by: No.offline.contact.please.anonymous.com
I'm just getting back to Eclipse after a couple of years of focusing my
efforts elsewhere and I'm trying to get my development environment, which
includes Eclipse, back up-to-date. Unfortunately, between the substantial
change that has happened to Eclipse and my not-so-great memory - and a hard
drive crash on my old hard drive - I'm having trouble and thought I'd ask
for help here. If I recall correctly, this is the appropriate newsgroup for
this question but if I'm wrong, please redirect me.
I've just installed Eclipse Europe (a.k.a. 3.3.2). [By the way, when did the
developers go to "named" releases instead of numbers? I had to actual
install and run this new version to obtain the release level! Nothing on the
website that I saw, or the file names themselves, indicated what release
level this was, which I found annoying.)
I have 4 previous versions of Eclipse installed on my (Windows XP) computer.
All of them are stored under C:\Eclipse\V.x.x, specifically:
- c:\Eclipse\2.1.3
- c:\Eclipse\3.0.1
- c:\Eclipse\3.1.1
- c:\Eclipse\3.2.2
The new version is at c:\Eclipse\3.3.2.
I followed this approach because someone on this newsgroup recommended it to
me a few years back as the best one for a standalone PC running multiple
versions of Eclipse.
Each of the older versions has a workspace in it, e.g.
c:\Eclipse\3.2.2\eclipse\workspace. I created a workspace folder for Europa
in the same way, i.e. c:\Eclipse\3.3.2\eclipse\workspace.
Then I started reading about ways to move my old projects to my new
workspace. Frankly, I couldn't remember for the life of me what the right
method was for this or even the right _word_ for it! And I still don't know.
I'm torn between "importing" and "migrating" as the right verb but maybe it
should be "upgrading"?
In any case, I need some advice on the best way of bringing all of my
various old projects into Europa. Let's start with some basics:
1. Is there _any_ point or benefit in maintaining several different versions
of Eclipse on the same machine? Should I be trying to bring all of my old
code up to the current level? Or is there some value in maintaining separate
versions of Eclipse? Perhaps, some of the old code won't work at all in a
newer version of Eclipse. I know I kept old versions of Eclipse for a reason
but I'm darned if I can remember why at this point in time. If there is no
good reason for keeping old versions, I'd like to bring all of my projects
into the current version of Eclipse and then delete all the old versions.
2. What _is_ the right word for "bringing old projects into a new version of
Eclipse"? Is it "importing", "migrating", "upgrading", or something else?
3. What is the best way for me to import/migrate/upgrade my old projects
into Eclipse?
4. Will the old projects still work in their old versions of Eclipse after
I've brought them into the new Eclipse?
5. Once I've brought all of my old projects into Europa, can I delete the
old versions of Eclipse and their accompanying workspaces (assuming there is
no value in keeping the old versions around)? I have this nagging suspicion
that imported/migrated/updated projects are still in the old workspaces but
perhaps in a different format than they once were and I am very worried
about deleting the old workspace only to find that I've deleted the new
version of the project.
Before anyone tells me to RTFM, I did try that and I'm afraid that has
caused me more confusion, not less. In the Eclipse Help, I found the article
Workbench User Guide > Tools > Upgrading Eclipse. Unfortunately, I'm not at
all clear that the instructions here are for my situation or are meant for
people who have been moving all their projects into the latest version of
Eclipse as soon as they've installed it.
In my case, I have projects in each version of Eclipse that never got
migrated to the next most recent version of Eclipse. Some projects got
migrated to the next most recent version of Eclipse but not to the one after
that. Some versions of Eclipse, of course, have projects that only began in
that version of Eclipse. I am especially confused about how to migrate
projects that got created in one version, migrated to the next version, then
never got migrated to any of the later versions.
As you can see, I am pretty confused. Can anyone help straighten things out
for me so that I can untangle this mess?
--
Henry
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| Re: Migration Questions [message #329261 is a reply to message #329158] |
Tue, 17 June 2008 17:25  |
| Eclipse User |
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Originally posted by: eclipse-news.rizzoweb.com
See my comments inline below.
rhino wrote:
> I'm just getting back to Eclipse after a couple of years of focusing my
> efforts elsewhere and I'm trying to get my development environment, which
> includes Eclipse, back up-to-date. Unfortunately, between the substantial
> change that has happened to Eclipse and my not-so-great memory - and a hard
> drive crash on my old hard drive - I'm having trouble and thought I'd ask
> for help here. If I recall correctly, this is the appropriate newsgroup for
> this question but if I'm wrong, please redirect me.
>
> I've just installed Eclipse Europe (a.k.a. 3.3.2). [By the way, when did the
> developers go to "named" releases instead of numbers? I had to actual
> install and run this new version to obtain the release level! Nothing on the
> website that I saw, or the file names themselves, indicated what release
> level this was, which I found annoying.)
If you would like to have the version info on the main downloads page,
please open a Bugzilla about it, targeted at the Website component:
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/enter_bug.cgi?product=Communit y
>
> I have 4 previous versions of Eclipse installed on my (Windows XP) computer.
> All of them are stored under C:\Eclipse\V.x.x, specifically:
> - c:\Eclipse\2.1.3
> - c:\Eclipse\3.0.1
> - c:\Eclipse\3.1.1
> - c:\Eclipse\3.2.2
>
> The new version is at c:\Eclipse\3.3.2.
>
> I followed this approach because someone on this newsgroup recommended it to
> me a few years back as the best one for a standalone PC running multiple
> versions of Eclipse.
Might have been me that recommended that. It is still good advice, but
the missing (implied) part is that you get rid of the old version once
you have no use for them anymore. I'd say 3.0 and 2.1 fall into that
category, without even knowing anything about your dev work ;-)
>
> Each of the older versions has a workspace in it, e.g.
> c:\Eclipse\3.2.2\eclipse\workspace. I created a workspace folder for Europa
> in the same way, i.e. c:\Eclipse\3.3.2\eclipse\workspace.
In general, maintaining multiple workspaces is only necessary if you
have a specific reason (for example, working on more than one totally
unrelated project at the same time, or needing to work on different
branches of the same project(s) at the same time).
To keep separate workspaces for each version of Eclipse, while workable,
is probably making more work for yourself than need be.
Instead, what I do when upgrading to a new major version of Eclipse (for
example, 3.2 -> 3.3 or 3.3 -> 3.4, but NOT 3.3.1 -> 3.3.2), is to make a
backup of my workspace (usually to a ZIP file) and then point the new
version of Eclipse at the existing workspace. Obviously, under this
strategy you don't want to store your workspace under the directory
where Eclipse is installed. I tend to use a directory structure like this:
Java/
Eclipse/
3.2/
3.3/
3.4/
workspaces/
projectA/
projectA-branch/
projectB/
(assuming I actually still use 3.2, and that projectA and projectB are
unrelated and are logical names, not necessarily a single Eclipse Project).
So when I get a new version, I install it into a new directroy in
parallel or update using the update manager, and then point it to my
existing workspace (projectA, projectA-branch, or projectB, etc.)
That way, I don't have to migrate projects or preferences over to a new one.
The reason for backing up the workspace before pointing a new version at
it is because some major upgrades will modify a workspace in ways that
make it not usable by an older version. With a backup, I can always go
back to the earlier version of Eclipse if I need/want to. Not that I've
ever actually used that safety net, but it's nice to know I have it.
I think the rest of your questions below are either answered or obviated
by the above strategy. Normal Java projects don't need anything special
be done to them if you keep using the same workspace. The exception
would be if your projects are actually plugin development projects
(writing plugins for Eclipse). In that case, you have the issue of
migration when upgrading to a new version. But that is a much more
complex situation, so I'll leave it to you to ask about it if you need to.
Finally, I'll point out that you can always use Export/Import to move
projects from one workspace to another. It works pretty much seamlessly
except for a few special circumstances. The same goes for Preferences,
which are stored in the workspace and thus need to be exported/imported
to a new workspace (unless you want to re-set them manually).
Hope this helps,
Eric
>
> Then I started reading about ways to move my old projects to my new
> workspace. Frankly, I couldn't remember for the life of me what the right
> method was for this or even the right _word_ for it! And I still don't know.
> I'm torn between "importing" and "migrating" as the right verb but maybe it
> should be "upgrading"?
>
> In any case, I need some advice on the best way of bringing all of my
> various old projects into Europa. Let's start with some basics:
> 1. Is there _any_ point or benefit in maintaining several different versions
> of Eclipse on the same machine? Should I be trying to bring all of my old
> code up to the current level? Or is there some value in maintaining separate
> versions of Eclipse? Perhaps, some of the old code won't work at all in a
> newer version of Eclipse. I know I kept old versions of Eclipse for a reason
> but I'm darned if I can remember why at this point in time. If there is no
> good reason for keeping old versions, I'd like to bring all of my projects
> into the current version of Eclipse and then delete all the old versions.
> 2. What _is_ the right word for "bringing old projects into a new version of
> Eclipse"? Is it "importing", "migrating", "upgrading", or something else?
> 3. What is the best way for me to import/migrate/upgrade my old projects
> into Eclipse?
> 4. Will the old projects still work in their old versions of Eclipse after
> I've brought them into the new Eclipse?
> 5. Once I've brought all of my old projects into Europa, can I delete the
> old versions of Eclipse and their accompanying workspaces (assuming there is
> no value in keeping the old versions around)? I have this nagging suspicion
> that imported/migrated/updated projects are still in the old workspaces but
> perhaps in a different format than they once were and I am very worried
> about deleting the old workspace only to find that I've deleted the new
> version of the project.
>
> Before anyone tells me to RTFM, I did try that and I'm afraid that has
> caused me more confusion, not less. In the Eclipse Help, I found the article
> Workbench User Guide > Tools > Upgrading Eclipse. Unfortunately, I'm not at
> all clear that the instructions here are for my situation or are meant for
> people who have been moving all their projects into the latest version of
> Eclipse as soon as they've installed it.
>
> In my case, I have projects in each version of Eclipse that never got
> migrated to the next most recent version of Eclipse. Some projects got
> migrated to the next most recent version of Eclipse but not to the one after
> that. Some versions of Eclipse, of course, have projects that only began in
> that version of Eclipse. I am especially confused about how to migrate
> projects that got created in one version, migrated to the next version, then
> never got migrated to any of the later versions.
>
> As you can see, I am pretty confused. Can anyone help straighten things out
> for me so that I can untangle this mess?
>
> --
> Henry
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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