Eclipse Mylyn 3.17 Release Review

Type
Release
State
Successful
End Date of the Review Period

Reviews run for a minimum of one week. The outcome of the review is decided on this date. This is the last day to make comments or ask questions about this review.

Project
Release

3.17

Description

This release adds support for the latest repository versions and fixes defects for Eclipse Mars SR1. It also significantly improves the user experience when editing and replying to inline comments on Gerrit reviews.

API Certification

The project leadership certifies that the APIs in this release are "Eclipse Quality".

Architectural Issues

API

  • No breaking API changes from 3.0
  • API tooling is used to verify that binary backwards compatibility is maintained and no API regressions are introduced.
  • APIs are consumed by 3rd parties who provide regular feedback
  • All API changes are tracked in Bugzilla on bugs tagged as [api]
  • Notes on API additions since Mylyn 3.0: http://wiki.eclipse.org/Mylyn/Porting_Guide
  • Connector core APIs are available to standalone environments and do not require an OSGi container

 

Security Issues

None.

Non-Code Aspects

Localization and externalization

  • The code base has been externalized for Mylyn 3.1.
  • Mylyn is now available for translation via Eclipse Babel.

User documentation

  • Eclipse help content that is generated from the Wiki has been added for Mylyn 3.1.
  • The webinar on Mylyn 3.0 is the most viewed webinar on Eclipse Live.
  • The web site provides easy access to Downloads, Support and Getting Started documentation.

Developer documentation

Source Control

  • Source code, including the website content, is managed in Gerrit. Code reviews are encouraged for all changes.

Release Engineering

  • The build system is based on Maven Tycho.

Continuous Integration

  • Tests are executed on a regular schedule on the Mylyn HIPP. Test results and build artifacts are available to anyone.

 

Usability Details

Maturity

  • Constant stream of stable releases
  • Bundled as part of EPP distributions
  • Committers work from HEAD, contributors from weekly builds, community from milestone releases

User feedback says it best:

  • "..arguably the most productivity-enhancing idea since background compilation and all of the things that enables (namely refactoring and syntax highlighting).  I just don't know how I ever was able to read and understand the Eclipse sources (or the sources of other large projects I've worked on) before Mylar, it's just that good.“ (David Orme)‏
  • “I would like to commend you on this very good tool. It has increased my productivity by 3 folds - no kidding...” (Deepak Devje)‏

Accessibility

  • No review for this release, but following accessibility guidelines
  • http://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-Accessibility/index.html

User Interface Guidelines

  • Focus on consistent visual design, UI elements, icons
  • http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/User_Interface_Guidelines

 

End of Life

Active Streams:

  • Mylyn 3.17 supports Eclipse 4.5, 4.4, and 3.8

End-of-Life Streams:

  • Mylyn 3.16 supports Eclipse 4.5, 4.4, and 3.8
Standards

Mylyn requires J2SE 1.7 or later.

Communities

Users

  • Lively community on newsgroup and bug reports
  • Articles and blogs by community members

Developers

  • Contributor documentation on Eclipsepedia
  • Lively community on mylyn-dev and bug reports

Integrators

  • Integrator documentation on Eclipsepedia
  • Separate mylyn-integrators mailing list removes need for integrators to watch the higher-traffic mylyn-dev
  • Specific discussions on “[connector]” and “[bridge]” bug reports, as well as “manage integration with Foobar” bug reports