Question

提出申请的途径很多。我可以这样说:

The main difference which I want to know is between the first and the second option as it is the most confusing for me.

关于第二个选择,我认为,通过创建产品配置并首次运行新的产品组合,自动创立了产品组合选择。在建立结构后,产品配置和链接组合不再有联系(至少我没有看到一个)。

Answer 1

Option 1 - run via plugin.xml - is primary used when the plug-in in question uses the complete target platform. Unless you have set the target platform explicitly, this is the same as the IDE you are running. Of cause, you can then later restrict the used set of plug-ins for your launch configuration manually...
Option 2 - run via product configuration - is used when you have defined a complete product. Every time you use this option, an underlying launch configuration is synched to match the product configuration. This is especially useful when you have defined you product in terms of features or only use a subset of the defined target platform. Also, this is useful when you wish to debug a product that is defined via a product configuration...
Option 3 - run via manual created launch configuration - is an option I try to avoid as it often gets confusing when you change plug-ins, features or product configurations for the product... It can be very useful to maintain a launch configuration manually in the beginning of development of a new product/application as the initial (plug-in based) product configuration can be generated from a launch configuration.