Using the OSGi Applications Development Tools in Eclipse 3.6 Classic

I have been using Eclipse since version 1 days so I always download the classic install. I understand what is included in the box and it works for me. I then use things like the Helios software site, or eclipse marketplace to get the other stuff I need.

So recently I decided to download the IBM Rational tools for OSGi Application Development from eclipse marketplace. I am a committer on Apache Aries and am involved in integrating this into WebSphere Application Server.

These tools assist the creation of enterprise OSGi applications and as such are based on the Web Tools Platform (WTP). I'm not sure exactly why, but I found working out which WTP packages from Helios I needed was a little hit and miss, so I thought I would record which packages I grabbed.

So I started from the Eclipse Classic 3.6 download and used the helios software site to grab the following packages:

• General Purpose Tools/Marketplace Client
• Web XML and Java EE Development/Dali Java Persistence Tools
• Web XML and Java EE Development/Eclipse Faceted Project Framework
• Web XML and Java EE Development/Eclipse Faceted Project Framework JDT Enablement
• Web XML and Java EE Development/Eclipse Java EE Developer Tools
• Web XML and Java EE Development/Eclipse Web Developer Tools
• Web XML and Java EE Development/Eclipse XML Editors and Tools
• Web XML and Java EE Development/Eclipse XSL Development Tools
• Web XML and Java EE Development/JavaScript Development Tools
• Web XML and Java EE Development/JavaServer Faces Tools (JSF) Project
• Web XML and Java EE Development/JST Web UI
• Web XML and Java EE Development/Rich Ajax Platform (RAP) Tooling

After downloading and saving you can then use the Eclipse Marketplace to find the OSGi Application Development Tools. After searching for OSGi for me it was the top item.

Update: You can also just grab the eclipse distribution for Java EE development which means you don't need to do all this.

Good luck
Alasdair