Defining Features and Products

Chapter 13, Defining Features and Products, discussed the definition of features and products, which are instrumental in the delivery, packaging, and branding of the plug-ins you wish to add to the Eclipse Platform. Features are the management unit for plug-ins. They can be used to define structure and installation prerequisites and to optionally identify update sites for delivery of service. Features can also be used to help drive the PDE build and packaging process.

If you haven't done so already, you should read the appropriate sections of Chapter 6, Managing Your Eclipse Environment, since many of the concepts in this chapter require that you understand the role and capabilities provided by the Update Manager. Exercise 9, Deploying Your Product Using Features, directly supports this chapter. A quick introduction to feature definition is also included in Exercise 6, Developing Your First Plug-in, which presents the basics of plug-in development and how it relates to features.

References

Update Component Development Resources