Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

rantMode = true;

One of the main gripes I have had about Eclipse over the years has been the update process. It rarely works seamlessly, and even when it does it used to make me select a new mirror for every component - arghhhh!

The update manager is improved in Ganymede 3.4, no more selecting a mirror every time - but the overall process still seems to have some MAJOR issues. I always get to a point where nothing can be updated, I get many errors, even when trying to update a SINGLE basic component at a time (like "Eclipse Platform" for example):

Cannot complete the request. See the details.
Cannot find a solution where both Match[requiredCapability: org.eclipse.equinox.p2.iu/org.eclipse.emf.codegen/[2.4.0.v200806091234,2.4.0.v200806091234]] and Match[requiredCapability: org.eclipse.equinox.p2.iu/org.eclipse.emf.codegen/[2.4.0.v200808251517,2.4.0.v200808251517]] can be satisfied.

Now that error makes sense from a P2 standpoint, sure. It can't satisfy BOTH of those required versions, and different components in the chain are asking for the different versions. But, and here's the rub, I don't know what component wants what version, and how the entire update process works - and I DON'T CARE TO. I just want the fricking update process to WORK (or at least explain conflicts to me very clearly, again I am trying to update ONE COMPONENT at a time). Every other application I have can successfully update itself, including my kernel nowadays, except Eclipse.

Curiously, if I CHANGE the list of update sites, which I have never added or removed anything from at this point (working with a relatively virgin 3.4 release), I can get it to a "no updates needed" point, by using only the "Ganymede" (http://download.eclipse.org/releases/ganymede) update site. Yet, as soon as I add back the "Eclipse Update Site" (http://update.eclipse.org/updates) update site, and use it in combination with the Ganymede update site, or use it alone - errors about conflicting versions abound. All of the other "dowload".x update sites have problems too - and again, NONE of them were manually added, this is what Eclipse comes with out of the box, and it doesn't work.

I searched for related issues on the Eclipse forums, and see several, but the responses are basically "download the new entire huge X package - that will solve it." Well that does work generally, but it sort of defeats the purpose of all the "bundles" and plug-ins to begin with. That isn't an "update" at all. Not using an update means I have to reconfigure all my settings . . . again. (Though credit where due, Eclipse is MUCH better about this in 3.3 and 3.4, it seems to now separate the metadata into the workspace/.metadata directory and migrating most user specific settings from version to version works well.)

Ok, back to trying NetBeans for another day or so, until I get frustrated with that because I just am not as familiar with it (and last time I tried it, admittedly a while back, it had its own issues). I am too cheap to buy IntelliJ or something, even though I hear it's great (an IDE is a commodity to me, I don't want to buy it, I just want to slam it onto whatever machine I am on at the moment and go - whether or not that is a reasonable/logical approach).