# Target Platform Preferences

Target Platform refers to the platform against which you are developing and testing your plug-ins. The target platform encompasses the location of the target, the list of plug-ins constituting the target, the target environment and launching arguments.

## Target Location

The target location typically denotes the location of an Eclipse installation. When searching the target location for plug-ins, PDE assumes a typical Eclipse installation layout, i.e. plug-ins are expected to be in a plugins/ subdirectory of the target location. Similarly, features are assumed to be in a features/ subdirectory of the target location.

Not all targets are Eclipse installations. Therefore PDE is flexible when it comes to locating plug-ins in the target. In the absence of a plugins/ subdirectory, PDE assumes the target location itself is the directory where plug-ins are located.

How PDE builds it target platform is dictated by the Build target platform based on target's installed plug-ins preference. When this preference is enabled, PDE will attempt to locate the target location's list of installed plug-ins inside a configuration file (platform.xml or bundles.info). If PDE finds this file, it will build the target platform based on the plug-ins inside the configuration file. If it doesn't find the file, PDE will just manually scan the target location directory for the list of plug-ins.

## Target Definitions

Target Definitions are .target files that encapsulate all aspects of a target (location, content, environment, etc.).

The Pre-defined Targets section of the Window > Preferences... > Plug-in Development > Target Platform preference page is initially populated by definitions contributed via the org.eclipse.pde.core.targets extension point.

You can browse for additional target definitions in the workspace using the Browse... button.

To preview the target profile before you apply it, click on the Target link. This will open a new window showing the content of the target definition.

To load the target, press the Load Target button. This will update all the tabs on the Target Platform preference page based on the content of the selected target definition.

Target Plug-ins
Target Environment
Launching Arguments
Implicit Dependencies
Source Code Locations