Easy to useTEA provides an easy to use framework for extending the Eclipse IDE with arbitrarily complex tasks or combination of tasks (called task chain).
High QualityAlthough partially rewritten for the open source version, the basis of TEA has been in development since seven years, and is used on hundreds of developer machines every day.
Single EnvironmentThe strong focus on enabling all tasks written for TEA to also run headlessly allows to avoid additional infrastructure. For instance the TEA library tasks to clean and build a workspace also run headlessly, and are thus usable on Jenkins build environments, etc.
ReproducabilityUsing the same code in the IDE and in headless builds allows to achieve reproducible results. If a build succeeds in the IDE, it will succeed headlessly too.
PerformanceNot everything in plain Eclipse is suitable for all use cases. The TEA build library provides tasks tailored to specific Eclipse RCP setups, which allows to strip down the required actions to build bundles. With a dedicated build orchestration, builds can be sped up by factors.
Why not use EASE?There are plenty things you can do using Eclipse EASE. Why use TEA after all? TEA tasks are usually provided as IDE plugin, and thus are available also when Eclipse runs on an empty workspace, whereas EASE scripts would require a configuration of script locations in the workspace, or the presence of projects containing those scripts. Also, TEA tasks can become very complex - which would be hard to handle with scripts alone. And last but not least: TEA tasks delivered as plugin cannot be easily modified by IDE users. This is clearly a benefit in some coporate environments.
TEA Core PlatformThe core platform of TEA provides the possibility to extend the IDE by implementing tasks, task chains, configuration and more. With a few simple building blocks, it is possible to provide complex tasks that aid developes in their daily work.
TEA Build LibraryFor years, TEA has been used primarily to speed up Eclipse builds in certain scenarios. Since TEA has become open source, we are improving on the existing library to be suitable for more and more scenarios. Currently, Eclipse RCP / P2 is well supported for applications that don't use package import.
EASE IntegrationWant to leverage the power of the TEA library tasks but don't want to get your hands dirty building your own plugins? No worries, use the Eclipse EASE integration to provide tasks as scripts, build task chains by mixing scripts and pre-built tasks, etc.
