Usage data collector

Installation

Install the collector in Eclipse via Help > Install New Software, using the update site

https://vogellacompany.github.io/org.eclipse.epp.usagedata/

That URL always offers the newest release. The page at the same address lists the version-specific sites if you want to pin one.

How to release

Every push to main runs the Release workflow, which builds the p2 repository and publishes it to the gh-pages branch as the update site above. Pushing a tag that starts with v additionally attaches the repository archive to a GitHub release.

git tag v1.4.0
git push origin v1.4.0

The workflow can also be started manually from the Actions tab, which publishes the update site without creating a release.

How to build

Use the following command to build the collector:

mvn clean verify

This also runs the tests. They start a workbench, so on a headless machine (or in CI) run them under a virtual display:

xvfb-run -a mvn clean verify

The published artifacts are PGP signed with the vogella release key, held in the MAVEN_GPG_KEY and MAVEN_GPG_PASSPHRASE organization secrets. Signing is off in a plain mvn clean verify; to exercise it locally, point Tycho at an exported secret key:

mvn clean verify -Dgpg.skip=false -Dtycho.pgp.signer.bc.secretKeys=/path/to/signing-key.asc

with the passphrase in MAVEN_GPG_PASSPHRASE.

System properties for development and testing

The recording bundle reads a few system properties that can be set via -D VM arguments. They are primarily intended for development, debugging, and integration testing — end users normally configure the collector via the preference pages.

Property	Description
org.eclipse.epp.usagedata.recording.period	Time (in milliseconds) between uploads. Overrides the value stored in the preferences. Values below the 15-minute minimum (PERIOD_REASONABLE_MINIMUM) are clamped up to 15 minutes, so setting 0 effectively means "upload as soon as possible".
org.eclipse.epp.usagedata.recording.upload-url	Target URL the collected data is POSTed to. Overrides the default (http://udc.eclipse.org/upload.php). Useful for pointing a development instance at a local server.
org.eclipse.epp.usagedata.recording.log-server	When set to true, asks the server to return a log of its activity in the response. Useful for debugging the upload protocol.

Example (as passed to a PDE runtime workbench):

-Dorg.eclipse.epp.usagedata.recording.period=0
-Dorg.eclipse.epp.usagedata.recording.upload-url=http://local.udc.eclipse.org/upload2.php
-Dorg.eclipse.epp.usagedata.recording.log-server=true