We are in the process of moving m2e to the Eclipse Foundation. Currently, we are going over the implications of this move from an end-user perspective and an m2e extension developer's perspective.
From an end-user perspective, this means a wider availability of m2eclipse, but more importantly, it means an alignment of m2e with the main Eclipse components and also with the Eclipse releases. m2e will participate in the Indigo release train, and we have asked for its inclusion in the Java Developer Package.
Eclipse is known for IP cleanliness. Through its thorough IP review process, the Eclipse Foundation has been known to only make available code with a clear pedigree. In fact, it is this process that prevented us from moving our code to Eclipse a couple years ago. We now have addressed all the issues uncovered in this initial attempt.
You may wonder, how does this help me? It does not make m2e run faster, or better? You are right, but it helps where you can't see. It helps make someone in your management chain more comfortable with the use of m2e, but also enables m2e to be included into more Eclipse-based products, and to some extent favors the creation of m2e extensions.
From an extender perspective, this move means work. In fact, since m2e namespace will now be org.eclipse.m2e instead of org.maven.ide, m2e extension developers will be forced to change their code to have their extensions work with the new m2e. Despite our commitment to work in Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo), m2e is still targeted to work on Eclipse 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7. This means you should not have to maintain two branches of your code, one for the "old" Sonatype m2e and one for the new Eclipse m2e.
Overall, despite the initial hurdle that can result from this move, we are deeply convinced that it is a great opportunity for the m2e community at large.
Written by Pascal
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