Eclipse plugin development - export packages

Question

I am customizing an eclipse RCP based application. There are 4-5 plugins that we are developing and the third party open source libraries are placed in a separate plugin project. The purpose of this plugin is to just a way to store all the third party dependencies(iText, jxl etc..).

When this project containing external jars is open inside the workspace, then the dependencies are not resolved and we get compilation errors in other plugin using these dependency jars.

But when this project is placed as a directory in target platform then the dependencies are resolved. The manifest file contains all the packages exported so that other plugins can use it. But its working only when placed as a directory but not working when this project is open inside the workspace.

Kindly help to find what I am missing.

Manifest.MF

Manifest-Version: 1.0
Bundle-ManifestVersion: 2
Bundle-Name: External Plug-in
Bundle-SymbolicName: com.external
Bundle-Version: 1.0.0
Bundle-ClassPath: classes12.jar,
 jxl.jar,
 batik-all-1.6.jar,
 commons-io-1.1.jar,
 fop-0.9.3.jar,
 itext-2.1.7.jar,
 serializer-2.7.0.jar,
 servlet-api.jar,
 swing-layout-1.0.3.jar,
 xmlgraphics-commons-1.1.jar,
 avalon-framework-cvs-20020806.jar,
 commons-logging.jar,
 expr4j-0.0.1.jar,
 beansbinding-1.2.1.jar,
 swingx-1.0.jar,
 swingx-beaninfo-1.6.jar,
 ocrs12.jar,
 dom4j-1.6.1.jar,
 jsr173_1.0_api.jar,
 org.apache.xmlbeans.xmlbeans-1.01.0.jar,
 poi-3.7-20101029.jar,
 poi-ooxml-3.7-20101029.jar,
 poi-ooxml-schemas-3.7-20101029.jar,
 castor-0.9.4.1-xml.jar,
 fileserver.jar,
 logwriter.jar,
 itextpdf-5.4.4.jar
Export-Package: com.gepower.np.edm.api,
 com.itextpdf.awt,
 com.itextpdf.awt.geom,
 com.itextpdf.awt.geom.gl,
 com.itextpdf.awt.geom.misc,
 com.itextpdf.text,
 com.itextpdf.text.api,
 com.itextpdf.text.error_messages,
 com.itextpdf.text.exceptions,
 com.itextpdf.text.factories,
 com.itextpdf.text.html,
 com.itextpdf.text.html.simpleparser,
 com.itextpdf.text.io,
 com.itextpdf.text.l10n.error,
 com.itextpdf.text.log,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.codec,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.codec.wmf,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.collection,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.crypto,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.draw,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.events,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.fonts,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.fonts.cmaps,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.fonts.otf,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.hyphenation,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.hyphenation.hyph,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.interfaces,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.internal,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.languages,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.parser,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.qrcode,
 com.itextpdf.text.pdf.security,
 com.itextpdf.text.xml,
 com.itextpdf.text.xml.simpleparser,
 com.itextpdf.text.xml.simpleparser.handler,
 com.itextpdf.text.xml.xmp,
 com.itextpdf.xmp,
 com.itextpdf.xmp.impl,
 com.itextpdf.xmp.impl.xpath,
 com.itextpdf.xmp.options,
 com.itextpdf.xmp.properties,
 com.lowagie.text,
 com.lowagie.text.exceptions,
 com.lowagie.text.factories,
 com.lowagie.text.html,
 com.lowagie.text.html.simpleparser,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.codec,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.codec.wmf,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.collection,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.crypto,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.draw,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.events,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.fonts,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.fonts.cmaps,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.hyphenation,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.interfaces,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.internal,
 com.lowagie.text.pdf.parser,
 com.lowagie.text.xml,
 com.lowagie.text.xml.simpleparser,
 com.lowagie.text.xml.xmp,
 com.lowagie.tools

Answer 1

In the plugin where you want this plugin ( which contains 3rd party jars ) to be required , you need to specify : Require-Bundle : external-plugin-name