Are required plug-ins automatically installed when installing a plug-in that has dependencies?

Question

I'm developing a plug-in that relies on CodePro and Sonar plugins. I added these plugins in the "Required Plug-ins" section of the Plug-in Manifest Editor. When I try to install my plug-in on a fresh Eclipse instance then I get the error: "Missing requirement: XYZ plugin requires bundle 'ABC' but it could not be found.". Is it a requirement that users have to manually install these required plug-ins before installing my plug-in? Or is there a way Update Manager can automatically download and install these required plug-ins before mine? If there is a way, how can I do that? I've read many, many articles, blogs and forums but did not a clear response on that. I'd appreciate any help.

Answer 1

p2 will follow plugin dependencies to install all required plugins (or features, depending on what is configured). If you use Help>Install New Software the update sites for all of the plugins must be available, and "Contact all update sites during install to find required software" must be checked.

When using the command line p2 director, you have to list all of the update sites you need on that command line. ex:

eclipse/eclipse \
-application org.eclipse.equinox.p2.director \
-noSplash \
-repository \
http://download.eclipse.org/egit/updates-nightly,\
http://download.eclipse.org/e4/updates/0.12-I-builds,\
http://download.eclipse.org/releases/juno,\
file://$HOME/eclipseUpdate \
-installIUs \
org.eclipse.egit.feature.group,\
org.eclipse.egit.source.feature.group,\
org.eclipse.jgit.feature.group,\
org.eclipse.jgit.source.feature.group,\
org.eclipse.egit.fetchfactory.feature.group,\
org.eclipse.emf.sdk.feature.group,\
org.eclipse.xtext.sdk.feature.group,\
org.eclipse.wst.xml_ui.feature.feature.group,\
org.eclipse.pde.api.tools.ee.feature.feature.group,\
org.eclipse.e4.core.tools.feature.feature.group,\
org.eclipse.e4.tools.css.spy.feature.feature.group,\
org.eclipse.e4.tools.css.editor.feature.feature.group

Answer 2

Open the Feature Manifest editor, go to the Information tab, go to Sites to Visit sub-tab. Add all the update sites for the plugins that your plugin is dependent on. When installing your plugin check the option "Contact all update sites during install to find required software".