Suggested Directory Structure 

Here's the directory structure I'm using. The various components are explained below.

    /dev
        /eclipse   <- dev install
        /mule
            /mule-2.0.0-M2   <- mule runtime install
            /mule-ide
                /eclipse          <- target platform install
            /workspaces
                /mule-ide                <- ide source workspace
                /runtime-mule_ide   <- ide testing workspace

Set up your dev Eclipse install

• Download and unzip Eclipse for RCP/Plug-in Developers
• Download and install a Java SE  (Java5 greater)
  • It may be necessary or desirable to explicitly set the Java VM used by Eclipse by setting the -vm argument in eclipse.ini
• Launch Eclipse and create a mule-ide workspace directory
  • Set the compiler compatability default to JDK5. This is required to create JDK5-compatible plugins and features, project specific settings on the individual projects are not enough.
• Install Subclipse for accessing version control
  • Help | Software Updates and choose the "Available Software" tab
  • Add Site...
    • Go to http://subclipse.tigris.org/ to find the latest update site URL, currently http://subclipse.tigris.org/update_1.4.x
  • Select
    • Subclipse Plugin
    • Subversion Client Adapter
    • Subversion Native Library Adaptor (JavaHL)

Checkout Mule IDE projects from SVN

• Open the SVN Repository Perspective
  • Window | Open Perspective | Other... | SVN Repository Exploring
• Create a New SVN Repository pointing to https://svn.muleforge.org/mule-ide
• The SVN src url for the 2.0 plugins is http://svn.muleforge.org/mule-ide/branches/muleide-2.0.0/src/main/
• Check out only the following projects
  • featues/org.mule.ide
  • plugins/org.mule.ide.config.simple
  • plugins/org.mule.ide.debug
  • plugins/org.mule.ide.debug.ui
  • plugins/org.mule.ide.project
  • update-site
• Exclude extraneous resources from version control that clutter up the Syncronize view
  • Window | Preferences | Team | Ignored Resources | Add Pattern..
    • target

The following information is only needed if you want to try the currently unsupported graphical editor plugins

• Install GMF
  • In principle, this should be possible to do through a GMF remote update site, however GMF has an extensive set of dependencies scattered across several Eclipse projects, so for now the simplest install is to do the download outside of Eclipse.
  • Download the GMF 2.0.1 [http://archive.eclipse.org/modeling/gmf/gmf/downloads/drops/R-2.0.1-200709280000/GMF-sdk-2.0.1.zip ] and unzip it on top of your Eclipse installation.
  • GMF may still be missing dependencies. In the update manager, select the "Europa Discovery Site", install the following plugins:
    • Enabling Features
      • Object Constraint Language (OCL) 2.0
      • EMF Validation Framework
      • EMF Model Transaction API
      • EMF Model Transaction Workbench Integration API
    • Graphical Editors and Frameworks
      • Graphical Editing Framework
      • Graphical Editing Framework SDK
  • If you still have missing dependencies: In the update manager, select "Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) Updates" and install the following plugins:
    • EMF SDK 2.4.1 (EMF + SDO + XSD)
      • Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) All-In-One SDK
  • Go to Help - Software Update - Manage Configuration. Make sure that GMF is enabled now (probably you need to show the disabled features)

Set up a target Eclipse install

By default, the plugins in your workspace will be built and tested against an Eclipse environment that includes all the plugins in your "dev" Eclipse installation. It is preferable to test the plugins using a "clean" Eclipse environment that conforms to the target base customer platform - no PDE, Subclipse, or any other plugin dev tools you may have in your dev environment.

• Go to Window | Preferences | Plug-in Development | Target Platform
• Here you can deselect plugins in your dev environment. However, a more reliable method is to actually create a second Eclipse install and point to it.
• Download and unzip Eclipse for Java Developers  (eclipse-java-europa-fall2-win32.zip)
• [TBD: additional target platform plugins may be needed]
• In the Target Platform preferences page (Preferences/Plug-in Development/Target Platform), point to the eclipse directory of this install.

Tips and tricks when running/debugging the Mule IDE

• Start the Eclipse view "Error log" in the application under debug
• Download Eclipse Spy or similar tools to inquire the IDE's state.
• Also get the Eclipse Core Tools, read more at http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/platform-core/downloads.php
• Use JavaRebel to radically reduce the modify->compile->run->test cycle during the plugin development.