What's the difference between the "Java EE" and "rcp" distributions of Eclipse?

Question

What are the differences, specifically, between the Java EE and RCP versions of Eclipse?

And how would one essentially get a "combined" version that includes all the best goodies for plugin development along with the best tools for Java EE?

I think what I'm looking for is the ability to create a "merged" instance entirely through the p2 updater. For example, if I open up a Java EE instance of Eclipse, open a java file, hit alt-shift-f1 to bring up plugin spy, and then click on "compilationuniteditor" to view the source of the java editor, I get .class. But in the RCP version, I get the source. How do I get those things in the Java EE editor using the normal Eclipse update mechanism? That's my goal here. What plugins in update manager contain what "essential bits" for each distribution.

Another example is installing all the Examples plugins. In the RCP distribution, you can easily install them from the "Welcome" page. So how, in the Java EE distribution, could you do the same thing?

The problem I'm trying to solve here is that I want to get away from maintaining two separate instances of Eclipse, since I do a fair amount of work in both RCP (for plugin development) and in Java EE (for webservice stuff, etc).

Answer 1

You can get a full comparison of all eclipse distros here.

Basically, the J2EE one includes the RCP ones, except for the fact that the RCP has the sources of some plugins, and not just their binaries.

To get a mix of the two, load them both, unzip them, and then compare the content of plugins and features sub-directories of both installations (with WinMerge for instance).
Copy any extra RCP files into the J2EE directories, and that should be enough.

Answer 2

From my understanding, the Java EE version comes with plugins for developing java programs whereas the RCP version includes the minimum number of plugins to build a rich client application.

These links should help:

• http://wiki.eclipse.org/RCP_FAQ
• http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/Rich_Client_Platform

Answer 3

I started with the Eclipse for RCP Developers and used the "Help > Install New Software..." Feature to add in the "Web, XML, and Java EE Development" tools from the "Galileo" update site.

You may want to be a little choosier than I was and maybe exclude the "Rich Ajax Platform" and possibly the "PHP Development Tools" Features from the category.

It's better to use the "Install New Software" feature than to try and merge directories. The dependencies can be fairly complex and troubleshooting a merged directory can be a nightmare. Let p2 do the heavy lifting.