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Shaping the Future of the Eclipse IDE

Thursday, June 17, 2021 - 08:03 by Mike Milinkovich

I’m very pleased to share the news that multiple Eclipse Foundation members have joined forces in a new working group focused on advancing and sustaining the Eclipse IDE used by millions of developers the world over. The Eclipse IDE Working Group members will leverage our governance framework to openly collaborate and ensure the Eclipse IDE software suite continues to meet developers’ needs for high quality tools.

To achieve this goal, the working group members — which currently includes Bosch, EclipseSource, IBM, Kichwa Coders, Renesas, SAP, VMware, and Yatta Solutions — will provide governance, guidance, and funding to the communities that deliver and maintain the Eclipse IDE software components. They will also oversee the related planning, delivery processes, and delivery technologies for the software suite. The projects that make up the Eclipse IDE such as Platform, JDT, and CDT are already wonderfully active, diverse, and vibrant. The working group will further support and strengthen their contributions by providing additional resources.

This is great news for everyone who already relies on the Eclipse Platform, desktop IDE, and underlying technologies as well as those who are thinking about adopting the software. With the focus and open collaboration the working group structure enables, everyone can rest assured there is a strong, shared vision for the future of the IDE and its related components. The software will remain relevant, sustainable, and high quality as it evolves.

In the 20 years since the Eclipse IDE was first released, it has become one of the world’s most popular and prolific desktop development environments. With tens of millions of downloads and billions of dollars in shared investment, the Eclipse IDE is a critical platform for millions of developers globally, so it’s very important that it remains vital.

Check Out the Latest Eclipse IDE Release

We timed the announcement of the Eclipse IDE Working Group to coincide with the latest quarterly Eclipse IDE simultaneous release to highlight how robust this community is. The Eclipse IDE 2021-06 release is the result of a huge collaborative effort from our dedicated community that encompasses:

·      More than 70 participating projects

·      110 committers

·      174 contributors

·      Almost 80 million lines of code

Congratulations to all of the committers, projects, and Foundation staff involved! 

I encourage everyone to check out this latest Eclipse IDE release. It provides a number of new features that will help you develop modern, world-class applications, including:

·      Java 16 support

·      Improved Eclipse Java development tools (JDT) capabilities such as new cleanups and enhanced debug capabilities

·      Mac AArch64 (Arm64) support for Apple M1-based systems

·      Improved embedded terminal support, including the ability to open files and links with Ctrl+Click, and remembering working directory, shell, and other settings

For more information and the links to download the software, visit the Eclipse IDE 2021-06 release page.

Get Involved in the Eclipse IDE Working Group

If the Eclipse IDE is important to your organization’s development efforts, joining the working group is a great way to help support and shape the evolution of a resource your teams rely on.

To learn more about how to get involved with the Eclipse IDE Working Group, visit the Eclipse IDE Working Group website, or see the working group’s Charter and Participation Agreement. Working group members benefit from a broad range of services, including exclusive access to detailed industry research findings, marketing assistance, and expert open source governance.We also welcome companies that want to support the Eclipse IDE without joining the working group. To learn more about sponsoring the Eclipse IDE, please see the working group’s Sponsorship Agreement. Individuals can also donate to the Eclipse IDE.