Question

I do mostly google app engine coding, and a little bit of android development, and don’t understand why I wouldn’t want my Eclipse ide to always be at the most recent release, or version. It seems like there are some plugins that wouldn’t be compatible, but couldn’t you just install the missing features from an old release of Eclipse into the newest release?

Answer 1

By far the predominant reason for not upgrading is lack of support for the new release from the plugins that you require. You cannot just install “missing features”. Most of the time, the incompatibility is due to changes in the new version of an existing feature. Plugins that ship from eclipse.org are tested together in coordinated releases. While in some cases, it may be possible to down-version a plugin and have that plugin still work in the new version of Eclipse, it is not something that you can depend on working. In fact, the odds of this working without issues are so small, that I wouldn’t bother trying.

Stick with whatever version of Eclipse your required plugins support until those plugins upgrade their support. If they aren’t moving fast enough, consider pestering the provider about this issue. If nothing else, knowing how big of a chunk of the community cares about support for the latest version of Eclipse will help the plugin provider prioritize their work.