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I want to use the Gradle STS plugin, but I don't need or want any of the other features of the SpringSource Tool Suite.

However, when I'm installing STS, Eclipse seems to be forcing me to install several components which are labeled "(optional)" such as the AOP extension, Web Flow, and so on. It seems Eclipse doesn't have any notion of an optional dependency, because I can't find a way to prevent them from being installed or remove them after they've been installed.


How can I install STS without the optional components?

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At this point, Gradle tooling requires the STS feature, so it is not currently possible to install Gradle tools without the rest of STS. However, we are working on modularization and for the 3.0 release of STS, you will be able to install just the subset of STS components that you require without the components that you don't.

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I understand that the Gradle tooling requires STS, and that's fine, but my question was about how to install the parts of STS that are described as optional despite the fact that Eclipse is treating them as required. If there's no way to install STS without also installing Web Flow, why does the name say "optional"? –  Brant Bobby Mar 28 '12 at 18:41
Those optional components are optional only if you are installing SpringIDE without the rest of STS. SpringIDE is the portion of STS that is open source. If you were to install only SpringIDE, then you could choose to not install the optional features. But since Gradle currently has a dependency on core STS, then there is no way around this. –  Andrew Eisenberg Mar 29 '12 at 20:02

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