Add or switch to a Gradle build

[mojavelinux]

For now, the IntelliJ project files in git make it easy for contributors to develop and build the plugin.

Ideally, we want to use Gradle to build the project. This will avoid the need to maintain project files and help with automation tasks.

Using Gradle for an IntelliJ plugin project is not well documented. However, there are at least two resources we can draw from:

• https://github.com/melix/teamcity-groovy-buildstep
• http://arhipov.blogspot.com/2013/10/managing-dependencies-for-intellij-idea.html

[mojavelinux]

I've filed this issue so that we can discuss the migration to Gradle. We may not get to it right away or the time might not be right yet. However, in time, I hope we can get there with the information we gather here.

[bodiam]

Hi Dan,

I already read those articles, that's why I added the Gradle files. But it's confusing IntelliJ, and it's not that I removed the current Gradle files without reason. Also, I've been in contact with JetBrains and I know that JetBrains is working hard on improving this themselves, so I'm not planning on spending any time on this.

Also, see this issue: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-132998

Besides that, having Gradle only solves a small part, which is the dependency management issue, without providing solutions for uploading plugins, etc. So I'm betting on JetBrains in this case.

So, personally, I'd rather keep it like it is for now, close this issue, and hopefully JetBrains will fix this some day.

[mojavelinux]

I totally understand and I view this as a future issue as well. The way I tend to handle issues like this, so as to encourage discussion and participation, is to schedule it for the "future" milestone. That way, you know to ignore it, but it still sends the message to the community that it's something we want to eventually do. (I've created a future milestone so you can label if you'd like).

Of course, it's up to you how to handle it. If you want to close it (or use the future milestone), that's your call to make.

You can also use the label "tracking" if we can link to an upstream issue in IntelliJ that we are waiting to be resolved. That way, they know we are waiting on them :)

[bodiam]

The thing is: I can come up with a million things to improve, but since GitHub doesn't allow the issues to be prioritised, I tend to not add all my thoughts as issues, but you're free to do whatever you think is right of course! Let's keep this here for now.

[mojavelinux]

I'm getting pretty used to using the milestones feature (at least the next milestone coming up). Then, I always view issues that are scheduled for a milestone instead of all issues.

Also, you should definitely checkout waffle.io for prioritizing issues. It's a Kanban interface to the GitHub issue tracker, which transparently updates the issues behind the scenes. Awesome stuff.

[bodiam]

Chances are quite big that Jetbrains will never(*) improve their plugin system. Closing this issue now.

* = no, really, I mean it, never