Missing installer for Windows v4.x releases (IEP-1706)

[JHedgesBartec]

The installation documentation for Espressif-IDE states there is an installer available for Windows, however the download links and what is provided with the release is a zip of the application.
See: https://docs.espressif.com/projects/espressif-ide/en/latest/installation.html

Where can the installer be obtained?
The links in the Download section point to the same zipped assets as provided in the github release.

[github-actions]

Hi @JHedgesBartec! This is an automated response.
If you don’t find the answer helpful, please check the ESP32 IDE forum (https://www.esp32.com/viewforum.php?f=40) or GitHub issues (https://github.com/espressif/idf-eclipse-plugin/issues) to see if the issue has already been discussed.

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You’re right that the v4.x GitHub releases only provide ZIP archives of Espressif-IDE for Windows and not a separate “.exe” installer. The current official documentation for installing Espressif-IDE points you to:

• The generic download page, which links to the latest platform-specific archives (including Windows ZIP). [Espressif-IDE downloads]
• The note that “for Windows users, Espressif-IDE is available with ESP-IDF as an offline installer,” but it does not provide a direct v4.x installer link. [Espressif-IDE installation]

In the provided release notes and docs, the only explicit Windows offline installer links are for older 2.x/3.0.0 versions (e.g. 2.12.1, 3.0.0), not for 4.x. [v2.12.1 release; v3.0.0 release]

Based on the available documentation, there is no published Windows offline installer link for Espressif-IDE v4.x; only the ZIP archives are documented for those versions. If you specifically need an installer-style package, the docs and releases currently only show that for earlier versions (e.g. 2.12.1 / 3.0.0).

[JHedgesBartec]

Using the ZIP method the following appear to be missing:

• Eclipse Marketplace - we used this to install cppstyle
• No available software sites are configured to be able to update the application

@sigmaaa you previously mentioned in 1335 that a new installer was being developed. Is this far off completion?

It appears with the way the release is currently delivered, it is missing features or is un-configured and not updateable..

[sigmaaa]

Hi @JHedgesBartec ,

First of all, thank you for reporting this!

The new installer (Espressif IDE Manager – EIM) is already available:
https://dl.espressif.com/dl/eim/?tab=online

However, currently it focuses on managing ESP-IDF, tools, and related dependencies, intending to package Espressif-IDE in the near future. In Espressif-IDE 4.x, EIM is used specifically to handle ESP-IDF versions and toolchains.

Our current expectation is that users either:

• Download Espressif-IDE from the GitHub releases page, or
• Install the Espressif plugin into an existing Eclipse CDT installation and update it via our update site.
• Update the Espressif-IDE with an update site.

After installation, the ESP-IDF Manager inside the IDE provides a "Launch EIM" button, which downloads and launches EIM to manage ESP-IDF and tools.

Regarding the ZIP distribution issues:

Eclipse Marketplace – we used this to install cppstyle
No available software sites are configured to be able to update the application

These two issues share the same root cause.

The update site
http://download.eclipse.org/releases/latest/

is intentionally not included by default in Espressif-IDE.

This was done to prevent users from accidentally installing incompatible dependencies that could break the IDE. The idea was to rely only on our controlled update site with verified dependencies.

If you need to install additional plugins from the Eclipse Marketplace (such as cppstyle), you can manually add the Eclipse release repository:

• Go to Help → Install New Software…
• Click Add…
• In Location, paste:
  http://download.eclipse.org/releases/latest/
• Click OK and close the dialog.

After adding this repository, Marketplace plugins should be able to resolve their dependencies correctly.

Please let me know if this approach causes any difficulties or if there’s something we could improve in the workflow.

P.S. We do have an open discussion and PR about whether we should include the Eclipse release repository by default in Espressif-IDE. It may be worth revisiting this decision:
#1313

[JHedgesBartec]

Hi @sigmaaa

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I have used the EIM and found it is a much better way of managing the IDF so far, thank you.

With regards to the IDE installer, v3.1 of the IDE can be downloaded here, albeit with a fixed version of the IDF. This was helpful as for users which do not routinely have Eclipse CDT installed, having a installer which installs both the IDE and the plugin removed any user error, especially in commercial environments whereby IT teams often preinstall software for new employees. In these environments we often rely on having fixed versions of software for stability across teams, so having a version specific installer helps in these cases.

With regards to the software sites, there was nothing at all configured from what I downloaded from the GitHub release, so the IDE/plugin was not even update-able through your 'controlled update site', it would require the developer to re-download next release from GitHub and overwrite it.
I agree controlling the Eclipse CDT version along with the plugin provides a better and more reliable experience, though I believe there should be a simple means of updating both.

CppStyle is no longer required by us, the native formatter in the IDE now appears to work as we would expect.