What's the best way to get Eclipse users to regularly update a plugin?

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+3 Q:

What's the best way to get Eclipse users to regularly update a plugin?

I'm going to be distributing a plugin that will be routinely updated with features, bug fixes, and updates to downloadable corpuses.

The usual update site mechanism can do the update ok - when the user asks it to.

The problem is that (unlike MS Office), the automatic updater preference is off by default and I don't want to change that default for my users or count on them changing it.

Can I write something that occasionally checks for updates? Or prompt the user regularly? What's bad form and what's acceptable ?

+1 A:

Eclipse 3.4 check automatically for plugin updates by default. You will see a popup window in the bottom right when an update is available.

To configure automatic updates, go to Window > Preferences > Install Updates > Automatic Updates

pdeva 2008-10-16 04:08:31

The problem is that for most users this is off by default. I'm wondering if my plugin can do checks on its own and alert the user, or is that "unethical"?

Uri 2008-10-16 04:36:02

The absolute sure fire way is to make sure that your updates are compelling. The user will do the rest

Tim Jarvis 2008-10-16 04:26:23

I'm distributing a research tool so updates are frequent and unexpected.

Uri 2008-10-16 04:37:53

Well, actually I wasn't really joking, if your users find your plugin useful and use it, they will themselves look for updates, especially if they know that it is often updated. I personally hate nag-ware, thats precisely why I removed adobe reader and replaced it with fox-it

Tim Jarvis 2008-10-16 04:50:04

ansaurus

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What's the best way to get Eclipse users to regularly update a plugin?

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