Irc Faq

A list of FAQs gathered on IRC #eclipse and #eclipse-dev on freenode

Q: What are those channels about?
A: #eclipse-dev is about development *of* Eclipse (for development *with* Eclipse, please see #eclipse)
A: #eclipse is about development *with* Eclipse (for development *of* Eclipse, please see #eclipse-dev)

Q: Are there other active channels about Eclipse (in alphabetic order)?
A: #aptana about Aptana, an Eclipse-based IDE for web languages
A: #azureus about Azureus, an Eclipse-based bittorrent client
A: #easyeclipse about EasyEclipse, an Eclipse distribution
A: #eclipse-cdt-dev about the Eclipse C and C++ tools project development (mostly inactive)
A: #eclipse-de about Eclipse in German
A: #eclipse-ecf about the Eclipse Communication Framework project
A: #eclipse-es about Eclipse in Spanish (mostly inactive)
A: #eclipse-linux about the Eclipse on Linux project development
A: #eclipse-me possibly about the EclipseME project
A: #eclipse-soc about the Eclipse Google Summer of Code
A: #eclipseSTP about the Eclipse SOA tools project (active only on wednesday mornings PST time)
A: #eclipse-tptp about the Eclipse testing, performance and monitoring tools project (mostly inactive)
A: #eclipse-wtp-dev about the Eclipse web tools project development (mostly inactive)
A: #jbosstools about the JBoss tools development
A: #jfire about jfire development
A: #phpeclipse about PHPEclipse, an Eclipse-based IDE for PHP
A: #radrails about RadRails, an Eclipse plugin for Ruby on Rails development
A: #rssowl about RSSOwl, an Eclipse-based RSS reader
A: #subclipse about Subclipse, the Subversion plugin
A: #udig about UDIG, an Eclipse-based GIS toolkit
A: #weblogic-eclipse about the Webglogic Eclipse plugin
A: Check also (listed in alphabetic order): #debian-java, #fedora-java, #gentoo-java and #ubuntu-java : those channels are often dealing with Eclipse on Linux .

Q: I am looking for help with developing with Eclipse. Should I ask on #eclipse or #eclipse-dev?
A: #eclipse, most of the time, as long as your question relates to Eclipse usage. If the issue is purely a language issue unrelated to Eclipse, you should find a more appropriate channel that deals with that programming language.

Q: Nobody is answering my question. What should I do?
A: First be patient, the person that has an answer for you may be busy at the moment. Then be patient, that person may be in another time zone. Be polite and gentle. Or else, you will be politely ignored. If nobody answers, it may just be that nobody knows the answer. You will have to make some research on your own. The Eclipse newsgroups are a good place, as well as the Eclipse bugzilla. And search engines are your best friends Good luck! And a last word:do not hesitate to provide answers to others too!

Q: Where are Eclipse's log files?
A:<workspace>/.metadata/.log
A:<eclipse install>/configuration/<sometimestamp>.log
A:<eclipse install>/configuration/org.eclipse.update/install.log
A:~/.eclipse/org/eclipse.platform_x.x.x/configuration/<sometimestamp>.log when your eclipse install is read-only (common for linux distros)
A:~/.eclipse/org/eclipse.platform_x.x.x/configuration/org.eclipse.update/install.log when your eclipse install is read-only (common for linux distros)

Q: I am working on a project and doing something or other does not work. Where should I start?
A: First, clean your projects using the menu item Project/Clean to trigger a rebuild.

Q: I just installed Eclipse on Linux, but it does not start. What is the problem?
A: Quite often, Eclipse will not work properly with non-Sun JVMs. Commonly, issues with it are related to Blackdown or gcj. Try installing a Sun JVM, and make sure that is the one being used by starting Eclipse with the argument: eclipse -vm /full/path/to/java/bin/java . The argument must point to the java or javaw executable.

Q: I just installed Eclipse on Linux 64, but it does not start. What is the problem?
A: Make sure that you have downloaded the 64-bit version of Eclipse and have installed a Sun 64-bit JVM. You msut have either 32 bits all the way or 64 bits all the way.

Q: I am having some trouble with CVS in eclipse -- is there a way I can get actual logs and see detailed error messages?
A: Open the console view and select CVS from the triangle drop-down in the console toolbar.

Q: I cannot get the SWT widget ABC to work when I do XYZ. Could you help me?
A: There is an SWT snippet recently written that shows just how to do that here.

Q: I just installed Subversion on (Mac, Linux) then I installed Subclipse, but it does not work. What is the problem?
A: Verify that the version of Subclipse matches the version of SVN you run. Try to un-install Subversion and configure Subclipse preferences to run JavaSvn. Ask on #subclipse for more help.

Q: Where are Eclipse preferences stored?
A: Most preferences are stored in the workspace.
A: Preferences are stored in various places (this applies to Eclipse 3.1)
* for each installation (but this may vary for multi-user installations), in files stored in <eclipse_home>/eclipse/configuration/.settings/ . There is typically one file per plugin, with a prefs extension. Note that very few plugins use installation-wide preferences. When you installed eclipse is read-only, the installation wide preferences (aka the configuration area) will be stored in a .eclipse folder in your user home directory. Some distro do it differently.
* for each workspace, in files stored in <workspace>/.metadata/.plugin/org.eclipse.core.runtime/.settings . There is typically one file per plugin, with a prefs extension.
* for each project --for project-level settings -- in files stored in a .settings sub-directory of your project folder

Q: How can I share Eclipse preferences ?
A: If you want to share preferences, export them using File/Export/Preferences and import them on the target Eclipse and workspace.
A: You can share the preferences for a project by defining those as project properties. They will be stored inside the project folder under the .settings folder that you can check-in.

Q: Where are update site bookmarks stored?
A: In <eclipse install>/eclipse/configuration/org.eclipse.update/bookmarks.xml

Q: Where are the CVS repositories locations stored?
A: In <workspace>/.metadata/.plugin/org.eclipse.team.cvs.ui/repositoriesView.xml . Previously used commit comments are in commitCommentHistory.xml.

Q: Where are my eclipse plugins folder?
A: Under eclipse/plugins

Q: I cannot get Mozilla to run on Linux as an embedded browser?
A: Follow the instructions in the SWT FAQ. http://www.eclipse.org/swt/faq.php#browserlinux

Q: I cannot get Firefox to run on Linux as an embedded browser?
A: Firefox is not supported as embedded browser on Linux for now. Track this bug https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=72487
A: But on some Linux distro that dynamically link Firefox (like Ubuntu and Fedora), Firefox will work. See also http://www.eclipse.org/swt/faq.php#browserlinux for more info.

Q: I am trying to use ssh+svn with Subclipse, and it does not work?
A: Enable JavaSvn in the Team/SVN preferences.

Q: The javadoc for the standard Java classes does not show up as context help. What is the problem? Should I download the javadocs?
A: To get the standard java javadoc to display in hover and context help in the Eclipse java editor, you need to run a JDK . Eclipse retrieves the javadoc from the JDK java sources. The sources are bundled with a JDK but not with a JRE. The file containing the sources in the SUN JDK is src.zip.
Q: But what do you mean by 'run a JDK'? The problem is that I've unpacked java docs (and in archive too) at the proper location in the JDK dir and it is not displayed when working on java project...moreover javadoc specific to project is shown properly!
A: You need either to have the JDK set as the Java Runtime for your project or workspace, or have started Eclipse with that JDK. Make sure that the root dir of your JDK installation contains a file called src.zip.
Q: But it still does *not* work! Help me!
A: Make sure that you have selected the JDK in your workspace or project preferences. For the workspace check: windows->preferences->installed JRE's , For the project check the propject properties.

Q: How do I change the heap size for java in eclipse?
A: Look at the help for eclipse command line arguments (vmargs in that case) or edit the eclipse.ini located in your eclipse installation

Q: I cannot start Eclipse and I get the message: "Workspace in use or cannot be created, choose a different one"?
A: Make sure you do not have any Eclipse and Eclipse VM running. If so, exit from them or kill their processes.
Q: I just did that but I still cannot start Eclipse and I still get the message: "Workspace in use or cannot be created, choose a different one"?
A: If you are sure that there is NO Eclipse and Eclipse VM running, you can attempt to delete the LOCK file under <your workspace>/.metadata/.lock

Q: I am getting weird PermGen space errors. What can I do?
A: Sun's JVM default PermGen space is 64MB, which is too small most of the time for Eclipse. And Sun's JVM version before 1.5.07 can leak PermGen. Edit the eclipse.ini located in your eclipse installation and add the following line: -XX:MaxPermSize=128m ( or more if the problem persist)

Q: I am looking for a simpler, lighter weight approach to editing XML, HTML and JSP. Any idea?
A: You can use the WTP Web tools editors. Check also the Amateras project. For simpler syntax coloring, check cbg.editor

Q: I want to start clean on my Eclipse installation. How can I do that?
A: You may want to try to remove every file EXCEPT config.ini from <your eclipse install>/configuration . On linux or mac (if you made your installation read-only) there may also be a ~/.eclipse folder that you can delete. (but be careful, some linux distros (Fedora and Gentoo I think) are known to store also additional plugins that you download with the update manager here). There are also preferences and settings stored in the workspace. Be careful when doing that in all case (keep a backup). And make sure Eclipse is stopped first.

Q: I have a crash and want to report a bug: what are the configuration info that I should attach?
A: The <workspace>/.metadata/.log file contains the error log. You can aslo get to it by going to the menu: Help/About../Configuration details/Error log. Then the configurations and system properties are always useful: get to it by going to the menu: Help/About../Configuration details and copy to clipboard.
When crashes are related to what is installed, attaching the platform install configuration is helpful. That file is under the <eclipse install>/configuration/org.eclipse.update/platform.xml. There are a couple logs that can be of interest there too at times. On Linux or Mac when the installation is read-only, the configuration area may be somehwere else, typically under ~/.eclipse or some "dot" folder in your user home directory.

Q: My workspace is hosed, but I do nowant to lose it, what could I do?
A: The <workspace>/.metadata/ file contains everything about the workspace, including preferences, etc..
You could do attempt to recrete most of it that way:
0/ stop eclipse
1/ backup your workspace folder
2/ delete the .metadata folder
3/ start eclipse on that workspace, (no projects will be shown)
4/ go to menu file/import/ projects from existing workspace, pointing to the current workspace dir, then select all the projects foun and this will re-create the project in the workspace, except for the prefs that were in the original wokspace
5/ as a segway, you could first export your prefs before step 0/ and import them after 4/

maintained by pombreda,avinash and others: please add your FAQ! Sign your nick?

Last Modified 8/2/07 5:12 PM

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