Re: [proposal] eclipse plugin extensibility

> Hello,
>
>  I'd like to propose an extension mecanism for the Eclipse plugin (and
>  potentially for other plugins).
>
>  The sysdeo-tomcat-maven-plugin (mojo project) for example has copie/pasted
>  the dependency resolution code from eclipse plugin. This was required to
>  create the .tomcatPlugin configuration file.
>  If this plugin code could execute *inside* the eclipse plugin as an
>  EclipseWriter it could benefict from the original code, and also from plugin
>  updates.
>
>  I propose to add a new extensibility feature in the eclipse plugin. Using a
>  new parameter, or maybe by searching some "extension" file in the plugin
>  classpath, the eclipse plugin could setup a list of external EclipseWriters
>  to run.
>
>  sample configuration :
>
>  <plugin>
>      <artifactId>maven-eclipse-plugin</artifactId>
>      <configuration>
>  ...
>          <extensions>
>              <extension>
>                  <id>sysdeo-tomcat</id>  <!-- matches some META-INF
>  metadatas in sysdeo-tomcat-maven-plugin.jar -->
>                  <configuration>
>                       <!-- extension dependent configuration -->
>                  </configuration>
>              <extension>
>          <extensions>
>      </configuration>
>
>      <dependencies>
>          <dependency>
>               <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
>               <artifactId>sysdeo-tomcat-maven-plugin</artifactId>
>               <version>x</version>
>          </dependency>
>      </dependencies>
>
>  </plugin>
>
>
>  Beeing added to the plugin classpath, the "plugin-extension" could add it's
>  EclipseWriters, and maybe other optional components (to setup ProjectNatures
>  ?).
>
>  Many other extensions could be added this way to the eclipse plugin :
>  generate SpringIDE configuration, setup Checkstyle in sync with the
>  maven-checkstyle configuration, etc.
>
>  Another benefict is that the "extension" could benefict from the forked
>  generate-source execution that the eclipse-plugin runs, to access the list
>  of multi-project modules.
>
>
>  Any suggestion is welcome.
>
>  Nicolas.
>