[ jEdit-devel ] shipping swt.jar as a plugin

Hello list,

I've tried to use swt's native html component to provide a decent html
component to display the javadocs.

The problem is that there is one swt.jar per platform/cpu.
So, is it acceptable to create a handful of plugins
"swt-linux-x86.jar", "swt-linux-x64.jar", "swt-osx-x64.jar",
"swt-win32-x86.jar", "swt-win32-x64.jar"?

Then not two of them could be installed simultaneously, otherwise
class names would collide. Also there should be a SWTPlugin.jar
plugin to use as a dependency from other plugins.

A NativeBrowser plugin has been created in 2010, that shipped one
version of swt. It has not been released/worked on for quite some time.
http://sourceforge.net/p/jedit/svn/HEAD/tree/plugins/NativeBrowser/trunk/

A solution to create a big multiplatform jar is discussed here 
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2706222/create-cross-platform-java-swt-application/5784073#5784073
It modifies class loaders to load from jars inside a jar.

Something more appropriate for jEdit can be done from a plugin,
downloading to ~/.jedit/plugins/swtplugin.SWTPlugin/swt-xxx.jar the
required jar for current platform and registering it as a PluginJar.
I have started such a plugin at
https://sourceforge.net/u/kerik-sf/swtplugin/ci/master/tree/
You currently have to download the appropriate swt.jar and only linux
and OSX 64bit are supported (see the user doc for SWTPlugin)

An example of a plugin using it is at 
https://sourceforge.net/u/kerik-sf/swtbrowserplugin/ci/master/tree/
It loads the SWT browser on startup. You'll have to use the activator
plugin to start it or execute
jEdit.getPlugin("swtbrowser.SWTBrowserPlugin",true) in beanshell.

I've encountered other problems with the SWT browser
widget so I'm not sure I'll push forward with it. Still the SWTPlugin
may prove useful to someone else. What do you think?

Cheers,
Eric