Eclipse SDK 4.6

What's new in this version:

- This release brings HiDPI support, improved GTK+ 3 support, adds support for the Solaris x86 and SPARC 64-bit platforms, and works on the Eclipse support for Java 9. For more details see the official Neon Plan.

New & Noteworthy URL:
- New and Noteworthy

API Certification:
- The project leadership certifies that the APIs in this release are "Eclipse Quality".

Architectural Issues:
- Eclipse Platform no longer runs on JREs below 8
- Many plug-ins switched BREE to JavaSE-1.7 or JavaSE-1.8
- Many plug-ins got generified
- Plug-ins started to use Java 8 constructs like lambdas or default methods
- More APIs have been released for Eclipse Platform 4
- Reference JREs for development and testing updated to most recent releases but no major changes
- Linux builds come with GTK+ 3 support enabled by default. If GTK+ 3 is not available we fall back to GTK+ 2
- PDE Build is in maintenance mode and is no longer used to build the Eclipse platform itself

Removed fragments:
- org.eclipse.core.filesystem.java7 (functionality moved into org.eclipse.core.filesystem, see bug 472554)
- org.eclipse.core.runtime.compatibility.registry (for details see bug 394739)

Removed bundle:
- org.eclipse.core.runtime.compatibility (for details see bug 394739)

New bundles:
- org.eclipse.ui.intro.quicklinks
- org.eclipse.pde.ds.annotations

Security Issues:
- The Eclipse top-level project continues to fix and resolve any security related issues found during development and penetration testing.

Non-Code Aspects:
- The build system is under continuous improvement
- Mars maintenance builds after 4.5.2 via Long Term Support (LTS) forge
- Conscious effort to engage contributors and accept contributions
- Attended code camps and hack days
- Held dedicated patch days where contributions were reviewed
- Initiated and heavily participated in Great Fixes for Neon
- See plan item bug 474498 for other activities to get more contributions

Internationalization:
- Latin1 and Latin2 locales are supported in all operating environments
- DBCS locales are supported on all platforms
- BIDI locales supported on all platforms
- GB18030-1 Chinese code page standard is supported on Windows, Linux GTK+ and Mac
- Added BIDI support for combo box and a new Globalization preference page

Localization:
- Tested for Localization and participating in Babel Project

Accessibility:
- Significant focus on US Gov. Section 508 accessibility compliance
- Open accessibility bugs: 14 major, 1 critical (targeted for 4.6.1), 0 blocker
- The 4.6 release contains updated User and ISV documentation
- Articles, examples, and tutorials
- Tutorials for Eclipse 4 are listed under http://wiki.eclipse.org/Eclipse4/Tutorials
- Numerous Webinars and Podcasts

Usability:
- Eclipse SDK is a superior IDE for Java tooling and plug-in development
- Many usability enhancements made in 4.6 to continue this tradition (see New and Noteworthy for details)
- Strings are externalized to support translation into other languages
- Extensive use of mnemonics and shortcut keys in the user interface enhances usability
- Full Bidirectional support (mirroring) on Windows and Linux GTK+, bidirectional text on Mac OS X
- Accessibility support for Windows, Linux GTK+ and Mac OS X
- Eclipse User Interface Guidelines followed

End of Life:
- When evolving API the Eclipse Platform will, whenever possible, deprecate API methods and continue to keep them operational
- Exceptions to this rule are in the deprecated API removals document
- A process is in place for removing invalid/outdated API – http://wiki.eclipse.org/Eclipse/API_Central/API_Removal_Process

Standards:
- Annotation Processing APIs
- com.sun.mirror 1.5
- javax.annotation.processing 1.6
- Java compiler API
- javax.tools 1.6
- User Assistance consumes (parses) a small subset of RSS 1.0 to get news from eclipse.org
- JUnit 4.12
- Java SE
- Compiler can generate Java 1.1 through Java 1.8 code
- Eclipse Platform runs on Java SE 8
- SWT: Win32, GDI, GDI+, OLE, IE, Cocoa, Core Graphics, Quick Draw, Safari, ATSUI, X Windows, X/t, GTK+, GDK, Pango, Cairo, ATK, Mozilla, Uniscribe,OpenGL

Communities:
- The Eclipse team is active in Bugzilla, forums and mailing lists
- Many Eclipse blogs on http://planeteclipse.org
- Some teams are using IRC to communicate
- irc://irc.freenode.net#eclipse-dev
- irc://irc.freenode.net/#eclipse-e4
- also see: http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/IRC
- Major Eclipse presence on http://stackoverflow.com
- The Eclipse team participates in code camps, conference presentations, and tutorials, including EclipseCon, EclipseCon Europe, Eclipse Demo Camps, JavaOne, JavaWorld,JAOO, JAX, JAX Asia, JSConf
- The Eclipse team interacts with other open source projects, standards bodies, and other projects on eclipse.org, including OSGi, Apache Ant, JCP, WTP, GCJ, GTK+