Eclipse seems to break more often than ‘Mr glass’ in Unbreakable. But simply reinstalling isn’t a strait forward task either. When uninstalling, the tool bar breaks (k, thats fixed with a restart), but more importantly eclipse won’t start again. You get a message stating that an error is logged in ~/.eclipse/configuration/1177584905255.log (filename changes).
!SESSION 2007-04-26 12:55:05.114 ———————————————–
eclipse.buildId=M20070212-1330
java.fullversion=GNU libgcj 4.1.2 (Ubuntu 4.1.2-0ubuntu5)
BootLoader constants: OS=linux, ARCH=x86, WS=gtk, NL=en_US
Command-line arguments: -os linux -ws gtk -arch x86
!ENTRY org.eclipse.update.configurator 2007-04-26 12:55:05.682
!MESSAGE /home/arnold/.eclipse/org.eclipse.sdk.ide/updates/eclipse/plugins is not a valid plugins directory.
!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 2 1 2007-04-26 12:55:08.090
!MESSAGE NLS missing message: initializer_error in: org.eclipse.core.internal.runtime.messages
!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 2 1 2007-04-26 12:55:08.091
!MESSAGE NLS missing message: fileInitializer_fileNotFound in: org.eclipse.core.internal.runtime.messages
!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 2 1 2007-04-26 12:55:08.091
!MESSAGE NLS missing message: fileInitializer_IOError in: org.eclipse.core.internal.runtime.messages
!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 2 1 2007-04-26 12:55:08.091
!MESSAGE NLS missing message: fileInitializer_missingFileName in: org.eclipse.core.internal.runtime.messages
!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 4 0 2007-04-26 12:55:08.173
!MESSAGE An error occurred while automatically activating bundle org.eclipse.ui.workbench (42).
!STACK 0
org.osgi.framework.BundleException: The activator org.eclipse.ui.internal.WorkbenchPlugin for bundle org.eclipse.ui.workbench is invalid
…
To solve this, do a complete remove (aka remove –purge) of all eclipse debian packages as well as the libswt3.2-gtk-java and libswt3.2-gtk-jni package and than install eclipse again.
If you still get errors, do a complete remove again, delete /usr/lib/eclipse, /usr/local/lib/eclipse and ~/.eclipse and install eclipse again. After that you can continue with your favorite hobby of re-installing all of the eclipse plugins.
The moral of the story: when you’ve got eclipse working DO NOT TOUCH.
Yes and another tip. To install eclipse packages for all users instead of only you, do the following:
<br />
chgrp adm /usr/lib/eclipse<br />
chmod g+rwx /usr/lib/eclipse<br />
Have a look at the follow up article ‘Eclipse problems solved (finally)’. Eclipse has been running almost smooth ever after.
I Eclipse giving you a headache? Try the Cloud9 online IDE.
Thanks, I’ve been pulling my hair on this, your advice seems to work on debian etch / sid as well.
Thank you very much for the tip, I had a bad day trying to reinstall Eclipse on Ubuntu Gutsy, reinstalling the 2 packages above helped in solving the issue.
Thank you again
Thank you !!!!! And I completely agree – “when you’ve got eclipse working DO NOT TOUCH”.
Tried it, didnt work. Ive been working with eclipse on Xp for more than a year, where most features worked enough for me to continue using it. To me its unbearably hard to get to work on Ubuntu. And despite purgin and checking for eclipse dirs later on, excess features such as the visual builder still \\
Funny thing is that I used eclipse today, with no problems and updated nothing. I swear, this eclipse is the most buggy piece of software I use. It breaks for absolutely no reason most times, with a complete reinstall being the only option. Backing up your profile? Pointless, it’s just going to be part of what’s broken and it’s completely unfeasible to go through and try to figure out what’s wrong.
On top of that, Java provides such overly verbose error messaging that googling for what’s going wrong is nearly impossible. I think between the fact that Ubuntu has become incredibly buggy with the recent hardy release, and these problems I’m continually plagued with using eclipse; I honestly think the time for me to stop using this combination has come.
Either I’m missing something drastically here, or eclipse is the most difficult to keep running smoothly of any software I’ve used. I don’t know how downloading the packages directly from their site and installing can always be so completely broken beyond belief.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely dig eclipse, but these constant problems continually pop up and render those features completely unusable. Can someone please, please, please figure it out somewhere? I’ll buy you beer. Or Something.
Hilarious…. “After that you can continue with your favorite hobby of re-installing all of the eclipse plugins.”.
Thanks for the good tidbits.
I don’t know why–Eclipse 3.5.1 is the most difficult to install in Ubuntu!
The READEME file should list all the steps required to install eclipse from scratch.
When it works, it is a beautiful piece of software.
I have a lot of problem when i install in ubuntu
Found a possible alternative solution. I’m running eclipse 3.6 RC3 (downloaded from eclipse and installed in my user space, along with an rcp target that contains the delta pack) on Ubuntu Lucid Lynx. My exported rcp application would shut down immediately after starting, with a log that started with an “activator org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench is invalid” error. I read a post somewhere that someone fixed this with launcher configurations; he said he had changed some of the settings and caused the problem, but when they were changed back to “default” all was good. In my .product file, I removed program and vm arguments. I then deleted my product run configuration. Then I clicked “Launch an Eclipse Application” in the .product overview tab. It ran. I exported it and the rcp application now works.
Eclipse – a great piece of software. But only as long as you use only its builtin plugin management. As soon as it interferes with the system it’s running on (think about JavaHL and subclipse, or the abovementioned SWT libs, or think about the attempts on launchpad) you’re completely lost if your system’s package management decides to update something without Eclipse knowing it, or updating Eclipse without caring for plugins. Not to mention the current Ubuntu dist upgrade that happily deinstalls or clobbers some of the applications you had running for years — this time (Ub. 9.10 -> 10.04) Eclipse lost all of the plugins I had installed.
Probably the best thing to install completely in user space, so the crappy Package Management can’t destroy it again. I’ll follow Michael’s way.
While clicking the eclipse set up file , it shows “The eclipse executable launcher was unable to locate its companion launcher jar”.
kindly send me the solution for this problem.
Thanks
regards
Suresh M
Thanks man, it’s kinda hard for me to post something, but for this one, you could earn a bottle of vodka, or whatever you like. Like the other dude here, I pulled my hair to completely uninstall eclipse, and scratched my hair to install it clean and smooth again.
Greetings from Brazil!!
@kelvin: Sorry Kelvin, I’ve moved away from Eclipse to Netbeans. The software was just giving me a headache to often.
I’m also looking at Cloud 9. That’s an online IDE.