FAQ

What does the CBI build of the Eclipse platform do?

The CBI build of the Eclipse platform is intended to produce the same output as the PDE build, and thus facilitate packaging without noticeable change. The noticeable difference the CBI build of the platform makes is ease of use to build the platform. For example, the prototype has consistently demonstrated that a newcomer without prior experience can build the Eclipse platform with under 30 minutes of effort on a machine with a supported JDK & Maven.

Won't CBI be kept behind a firewall at Eclipse?

No, the work done for CBI will be public and available and projects will be encouraged to leverage them.

Will my project be forced to move to CBI?

No, there are no plans for forcing projects to use CBI. But if CBI develops the way we intend, you'll likely feel there's much good value to use it and decide to move to CBI on your own. Part of the benefit include the really easy to use & powerful build. Part of the benefit is that using CBI allows the Eclipse Foundation's release engineer to provide some assistance to ensure your project has a comprehensible and efficient build. Another important part of the CBI initiative is a Continuous integration facility and build farm maintained by the Eclipse Foundation... so you don't need to create & maintain one yourself somewhere else.

Isn't this just yet-another-build system at Eclipse?

In truth, many of the technologies involved with CBI such as Maven, Tycho, Jenkins, Git, etc. were already in use by several projects who consider them to be best of breed. In addition, they were/are being considered by others. Thus, in a way, CBI is an evolutionary effort building on momentum in the community. Technologies such as Maven and Nexus (the artifact storage repository often used with Maven) are ubiquitous and very popular.