The main idea is to have a unified way to manage preferences. A preference consists of a key (string) and a value (any object).

This involves:

• A storage API to store preferences under a central git repository (preferences.git);
• A hierarchical API to save and retrieve preferences;
• A new workbench part (@WorkbenchPreferences), to enable the creation of configuration screens to other workbench parts (screens, perspectives, etc);
• A new client annotation (@Preferences) to be used on workbench parts. This annotation will point to a configuration screen that will be used by this part;
• A centralized UI, where all configuration screens can be accessed.