The platform update mechanism supports pluggable feature type implementations. A new feature type can be registered in order to support alternate packaging and verification schemes.
The featureTypes
extension point allows alternate feature implementations to be
registered using a symbolic type identifier. Whenever the
type is referenced using this identifier, the supplied factory
is used to create the correct concrete feature implementation.
<!ELEMENT extension (feature-factory+)>
<!ATTLIST extension
point CDATA #REQUIRED
id CDATA #IMPLIED
name CDATA #IMPLIED
>
<!ELEMENT feature-factory EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST feature-factory
class CDATA #REQUIRED
>
<extension
id="custom"
point="org.eclipse.update.core.featureTypes"
name="Custom packaged feature">
<feature-factory
class="com.xyz.update.CustomFeatureFactory">
</feature-factory>
</extension>
org.eclipse.update.core.IFeatureFactory