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Project Plan for Eclipse SDK 4.38
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‎development/plans/eclipse_project_plan_4_38.xml‎

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
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<!-- Use this to test local rendering in firefox. Comment out this line once this plan is linked to portal data. -->
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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="project-plan-render.xsl"?>
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<!-- <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://www.eclipse.org/projects/project-plan.xsl"?> -->
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<p:plan
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plan-format="1.0"
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xmlns:p="http://www.eclipse.org/project/plan" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
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name="Eclipse Project">
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<p:release projectid="eclipse" version="2025-12"/>
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<!-- ============================================== -->
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<p:introduction>
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<div>
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<p>
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Last revised October 07, 2025.
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</p>
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<p><i>Please send comments about this plan to the</i> <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> <i>developer
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mailing list.</i>
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</p>
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<p>This document lays out the feature and API set for the next feature release
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of the Eclipse SDK after 4.37, designated release 4.38 and code-named 2025-12.
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</p>
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<p>The first part of the plan deals with the important matters of release deliverables,
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release milestones, target operating environments, and release-to-release compatibility.
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These are all things that need to be clear for any release, even if no features
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were to change. </p>
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<p>Not all plan items represent the same amount of work; some may be quite large,
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others, quite small. Some plan items may involve work that is localized to
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a single component; others may involve coordinated changes to several components;
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other may pervade the entire SDK. Although some plan items are for work that
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is more pressing than others, the plan items appear in no particular order. </p>
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<p>With the previous release as the starting point, this is the plan for how
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we will enhance and improve it. Fixing bugs, improving test coverage, documentation,
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examples, performance tuning, usability, etc. are considered routine ongoing
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maintenance activities and are not included in this plan unless they would
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also involve a significant change to the API or feature set, or involve a significant
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amount of work. The intent of the plan is to account for all interesting feature
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work. </p>
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</div>
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</p:introduction>
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<!-- ============================================== -->
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<p:release_deliverables>
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<div>
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<p>The release deliverables have the same form as previous releases, namely: </p>
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<ul>
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<li>Source code release for all Eclipse Project deliverables, available as
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versions tagged &quot;R4_38&quot; in the Eclipse Project Git
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repositories <a href="https://github.com/eclipse-equinox/">Equinox</a>, <a href="https://github.com/eclipse-jdt/">JDT</a>,
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<a href="https://github.com/eclipse-pde/">PDE</a> and <a href="https://github.com/eclipse-platform/">Platform</a>.</li>
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<li>Eclipse SDK (runtime binary and SDK for Equinox, Platform, JDT, and PDE) (downloadable).</li>
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<li>Eclipse Equinox (runtime and source repositories) (downloadable).</li>
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<li>Eclipse Platform (runtime and source repositories) (downloadable).</li>
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<li>Eclipse ECJ (runtime and source for the Eclipse Compiler for Java) (downloadable).</li>
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<li>Eclipse PDE (Installable from repository for the Plug-in Development Environment).</li>
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<li>Eclipse SDK Examples (Installable from repository).</li>
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<li>SWT distribution (downloadable).</li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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</p:release_deliverables>
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<!-- ============================================== -->
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<p:release_milestones>
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<p:preamble><p>
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Release milestones will be occurring at roughly 6 week intervals, and will be aligned with the
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<a href="https://github.com/eclipse-simrel/.github/blob/main/wiki/SimRel/2025-12.md">
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2025-12 Simultaneous Release</a> train.</p>
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</p:preamble>
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<p:milestone date="2025-10-04" milestone="M1"><div>4.38 M1</div></p:milestone>
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<p:milestone date="2025-10-25" milestone="M2"><div>4.38 M2 (only submit I-build)</div></p:milestone>
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<p:milestone date="2025-11-15" milestone="M3"><div>4.38 M3 - <b>Release Record Deadline</b></div></p:milestone>
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<!--
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NOTE: This is only necessary once per year. For us with the 202x-03 release.
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<p:milestone date="2023-11-18" milestone=""><div>IP Log Submission Deadline</div></p:milestone>
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-->
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<p:milestone date="2025-11-22" milestone="RC1"><div>4.38 RC1 - <b>API and feature freeze</b></div></p:milestone>
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<!--
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NOTE: This is only necessary once per year. For us with the 202x-03 release.
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<p:milestone date="2023-11-25" milestone=""><div>Review Material Submission Deadline</div></p:milestone>
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-->
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<p:milestone date="2025-11-29" milestone="RC2"><div>4.38 RC2 - <b>New and Noteworthy Material Deadline</b></div></p:milestone>
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<p:milestone date="2025-12-04" milestone="GA"><div>4.38 GA</div></p:milestone>
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<p:postamble>
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<div>
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<p>Our target is to complete 4.38 in December 2025.
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All release deliverables will be available for download as soon as the release has been
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tested and validated in the target operating configurations listed below.</p>
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<p>PMC approval is required for API changes and additions after M3.</p>
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</div>
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</p:postamble>
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</p:release_milestones>
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<!-- ============================================== -->
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<p:target_environments>
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<div>
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<p>In order to remain current, each Eclipse Project release targets reasonably current
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operating environments.</p>
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<p>Most of the Eclipse SDK is &quot;pure&quot; Java code and has no direct dependence
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on the underlying operating system. The chief dependence is therefore on the
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Java Platform itself. Portions are targeted to specific classes of operating
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environments, requiring their source code to only reference facilities available
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in particular class libraries (e.g. Java 22, Java 23, etc).</p>
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<p>
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In general, the 4.38 release of the Eclipse Project is developed on Java SE 21 VMs.
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As such, the Eclipse SDK as a whole
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is targeted at all modern, desktop Java VMs. Most functionality is available for
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Java SE 21 level development everywhere, and extended development capabilities are made
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available on the VMs that support them.</p>
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<p>There are many different implementations of the Java Platform running atop
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a variety of operating systems. We focus our testing on a handful of
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popular combinations of operating system and Java Platform; these are our <em>reference
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platforms</em>. Eclipse undoubtedly runs fine in many operating environments
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beyond the reference platforms we test. However, since we do not systematically test
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them we cannot vouch for them. Problems encountered when running Eclipse on a
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non-reference platform that cannot be recreated on any reference platform will
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be given lower priority than problems with running Eclipse on a reference platform.</p>
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<p>Eclipse 4.38 is tested and validated on the following reference platforms
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(this list is updated over the course of the release cycle):</p>
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<style type="text/css">
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table.platforms {
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border-width: 1px;
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border-spacing: 0px;
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border-style: solid;
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border-collapse: separate;
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}
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table.platforms th {
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border-width: 1px;
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padding: 3px;
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border-style: inset;
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border-color: black;
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background-color: #B9A9FF;
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}
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table.platforms td {
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border-width: 1px 1px 1px 1px;
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padding: 3px 3px 3px 3px;
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border-style: inset inset inset inset;
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border-color: gray gray gray gray;
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}
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table.platforms tr.c0 td {
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background-color: #FDFDFD;
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}
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table.platforms tr.c1 td {
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background-color: #F4EEFF;
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}
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</style>
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<center>
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<table class="platforms">
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<tr>
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<th>Operating System</th>
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<th>Version</th>
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<th>Hardware</th>
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<th>JRE</th>
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<th>Windowing System</th>
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</tr>
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<!-- ************ WINDOWS ************** -->
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<tr class="c0">
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<td rowspan="1">Windows</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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11<br/>
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</td>
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<td rowspan="1">x86 64-bit</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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OpenJDK 21.0.8 (LTS)<br/>
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Oracle Java 21.0.8 (LTS)<br/>
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OpenJDK 25.0.0 (LTS)<br/>
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Oracle Java 25.0.0 (LTS)<br/>
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</td>
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<td rowspan="1">Win32</td>
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</tr>
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<!-- ************ RHEL ************** -->
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<tr class="c1">
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<td rowspan="2">Red Hat Enterprise Linux</td>
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<td rowspan="2">10.0
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</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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x86 64-bit<br/>
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aarch64<br/>
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</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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OpenJDK 21.0.8 (LTS)<br/>
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Oracle Java 21.0.8 (LTS)<br/>
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OpenJDK 25.0.0 (LTS)<br/>
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Oracle Java 25.0.0 (LTS)<br/>
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</td>
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<td rowspan="2">GTK 3</td>
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</tr>
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<tr class="c1">
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<td rowspan="1">Power 64-bit LE</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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OpenJDK 21.0.8 (LTS)<br/>
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OpenJDK 25.0.0 (LTS)<br/>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<!-- ************ SLES ************** -->
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<tr class="c0">
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<td rowspan="2">SUSE Linux Enterprise Server</td>
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<td rowspan="2">
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16
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</td>
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<td rowspan="1">x86 64-bit</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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OpenJDK 21.0.8 (LTS)<br/>
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OpenJDK 25.0.0 (LTS)<br/>
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</td>
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<td rowspan="2">GTK 3</td>
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</tr>
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<tr class="c0">
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<td rowspan="1">Power 64-bit LE</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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OpenJDK 21.0.8 (LTS)<br/>
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OpenJDK 25.0.0 (LTS)<br/>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<!-- ************ Ubuntu ************** -->
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<tr class="c1">
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<td rowspan="1">Ubuntu Long Term Support</td>
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<td rowspan="1">24.04.03</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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x86 64-bit<br/>
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aarch64<br/>
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</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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OpenJDK 21.0.8 (LTS)<br/>
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OpenJDK 25.0.0 (LTS)<br/>
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</td>
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<td rowspan="1">GTK 3</td>
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</tr>
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<!-- ************ Mac ************** -->
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<tr class="c1">
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<td rowspan="2">Apple macOS</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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14<br/>
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15<br/>
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26
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</td>
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<td rowspan="1">x86 64-bit</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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OpenJDK 21.0.8 (LTS)<br/>
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Oracle Java 21.0.8 (LTS)<br/>
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OpenJDK 25.0.0 (LTS)<br/>
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Oracle Java 25.0.0 (LTS)<br/>
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</td>
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<td rowspan="2">Cocoa</td>
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</tr>
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<tr class="c0">
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<td rowspan="1">
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14<br/>
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15<br/>
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26
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</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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M1 (arm64)
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</td>
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<td rowspan="1">
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OpenJDK 21.0.8 (LTS)<br/>
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OpenJDK 25.0.0 (LTS)<br/>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</center>
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<p>As stated above, <i>we expect that Eclipse works fine on other current
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Java VM and OS versions but we cannot flag these as reference platforms without
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significant community support for testing them.</i></p>
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<p>With respect to GTK 3 versions: the <i>required</i> version of GTK 3 which Eclipse SDK 4.38
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will run on is 3.22 or newer.
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</p>
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<p>With respect to GTK 3 themes: Adwaita theme is guaranteed to work. Eclipse SDK will run with other GTK 3 themes,
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however we cannot flag these as reference versions without significant community support for testing and/or development
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of fixes. Bugs that are reproducible only with themes other than Adwaita will be given a lower priority (or may not be fixed at all),
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compared to bugs which are reproducible on the target environments listed above.
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</p>
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</div>
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<p:internationalization>
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<p>The Eclipse SDK is designed as the basis for internationalized products. The
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user interface elements provided by the Eclipse SDK components, including dialogs
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and error messages, are externalized. The English strings are provided as the
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default resource bundles.</p>
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<p>Latin-1, DBCS, and BiDi locales are supported by the Eclipse SDK on all reference platforms.</p>
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<p>The Eclipse SDK supports GB 18030 (level 1), the Chinese code page standard,
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on Windows, Linux and the Macintosh.</p>
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</p:internationalization>
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</p:target_environments>
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<!-- ============================================== -->
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<p:compatibility_with_previous_releases>
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<div>
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<h3>Compatibility of Release 4.38 with 4.37</h3>
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<p>Eclipse 4.38 will be compatible with Eclipse 4.37</p>
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<p><strong>API Contract Compatibility:</strong> Eclipse SDK 4.38 will be upwards
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contract-compatible with Eclipse SDK 4.37 except in those areas noted in the
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<a href="https://help.eclipse.org/2025-12/topic/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/porting/eclipse_4_38_porting_guide.html" target="_top">
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<em>Eclipse 4.38 Plug-in Migration Guide</em>
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</a>. Programs that use affected APIs and extension points will need to be ported
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to Eclipse SDK 4.38 APIs. Downward contract compatibility
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is not supported. There is no guarantee that compliance with Eclipse SDK 4.38
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APIs would ensure compliance with Eclipse SDK 4.37 APIs. Refer to
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<a href="https://github.com/eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform/blob/master/docs/Evolving-Java-based-APIs.md">
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<em>Evolving Java-based APIs</em>
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</a> for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain contract compatibility.</p>
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<p><strong>Binary (plug-in) Compatibility:</strong> Eclipse SDK 4.38 will be upwards
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binary-compatible with Eclipse SDK 4.37 except in those areas noted in the
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<a href="https://help.eclipse.org/2025-12/topic/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/porting/eclipse_4_38_porting_guide.html" target="_top">
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<em>Eclipse 4.38 Plug-in Migration Guide</em>
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</a>. Downward plug-in compatibility is not supported. Plug-ins for Eclipse SDK
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4.38 will not be usable in Eclipse SDK 4.37. Refer to
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<a href="https://github.com/eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform/blob/master/docs/Evolving-Java-based-APIs.md">
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<em>Evolving Java-based APIs</em>
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</a> for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain binary compatibility.</p>
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<p><strong>Source Compatibility:</strong> Eclipse SDK 4.38 will be upwards source-compatible
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with Eclipse SDK 4.37 except in the areas noted in the
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<a href="https://help.eclipse.org/2025-03/topic/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/porting/eclipse_4_38_porting_guide.html" target="_top">
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<em>Eclipse 4.38 Plug-in Migration Guide</em>
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</a>. This means that source files written
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to use Eclipse SDK 4.38 APIs might successfully compile and run against Eclipse
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SDK 4.37 APIs, although this is not guaranteed. Downward source compatibility
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is not supported. If source files use new Eclipse SDK APIs, they will not be
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usable with an earlier version of the Eclipse SDK. </p>
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<p><strong>Workspace Compatibility:</strong> Eclipse SDK 4.38 will be upwards
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workspace-compatible with earlier 3.x and 4.37 versions of the Eclipse SDK unless noted.
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This means that workspaces and projects created with Eclipse SDK 4.37, 4.36, 4.35, 4.34, 4.33...4.30, 4.25, .. 3.0 can be successfully
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opened by Eclipse SDK 4.38 and upgraded to a 4.38 workspace. This includes both
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hidden metadata, which is localized to a particular workspace, as well as metadata
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files found within a workspace project (e.g., the .project file ), which may
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propagate between workspaces via file copying or team repositories. Individual
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plug-ins developed for Eclipse SDK 4.38 should provide similar upwards compatibility
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for their hidden and visible workspace metadata created by earlier versions;
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4.38 plug-in developers are responsible for ensuring that their plug-ins recognize
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metadata from earlier versions and process it appropriately. User
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interface session state may be discarded when a workspace is upgraded. Downward
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workspace compatibility is not supported. A workspace created (or opened) by
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a product based on Eclipse 4.38 will be unusable with a product based on an earlier
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version of Eclipse. Visible metadata files created (or overwritten) by Eclipse
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4.38 will generally be unusable with earlier versions of Eclipse. </p>
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<p><strong>Non-compliant usage of API's</strong>: All non-API methods and classes,
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and certainly everything in a package with &quot;internal&quot; in its name or
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x-internal in the bundle manifest entry,
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are considered implementation details which may vary between operating environment
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and are subject to change without notice. Client plug-ins that directly depend
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on anything other than what is specified in the Eclipse SDK API are inherently
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unsupportable and receive no guarantees about compatibility within a single
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release much less with earlier releases. Refer to
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<a href="https://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-API-Use/index.html">
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<em>How to Use the Eclipse API</em>
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</a> for information about how to write compliant plug-ins. </p>
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</div>
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</p:compatibility_with_previous_releases>
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<!-- ============================================== -->
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<!-- <p:themes_and_priorities> -->
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<p:preamble>
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We no longer group the plan items into separate themes as this does not provide real value to our users.
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<div>
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</div>
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</p:preamble>
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<!-- </p:themes_and_priorities> -->
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<!-- ============================================== -->
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</p:plan>

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