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[platform-doc-dev] Re: Readme verification.
|
Here is a version of the readme_eclipse.html
file that contains, I believe, all of the changes that people sent me.
Jeem, can you commit this to for me?
Would everyone who sent me something
please verify that their updates made it in. Also, would whoever is looking
at this from SWT, please let me know that you are checking it out.
McQ.
Mike Wilson/Ottawa/IBM
06/16/05 09:28
|
To
| platform-doc-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
|
cc
|
|
Subject
| Readme verification. |
|
If you haven't already done so, would
someone from each team take a look at the readme_eclipse.html file in org.eclipse.platform-feature/rootfiles/readme
and verify the content in your sections. If you want me to coordinate the
changes, you can send your updates to me.
Thanks,
McQ.
Title: Eclipse Project Release Notes 3.1.0
Eclipse Project Release Notes
Pre-release 3.1.0
Last revised June 18, 2005
This software is OSI Certified Open Source Software.
OSI Certified is a certification mark of the Open Source Initiative.
1. Target Operating
Environments
2. Compatibility with Previous
Releases
3. Known Issues
4. Running Eclipse
5. Upgrading a Workspace from a Previous Release
6. Interoperability with
Previous Releases
1. Target Operating Environments
Most of the Eclipse SDK is "pure" JavaTM
code and has no direct dependence on the underlying operating system. The chief
dependence is therefore on the Java 2 Platform itself. The 3.1 release of the Eclipse
Project is written and compiled against version 1.4 of the Java 2 Platform APIs, and
targeted to run on version 1.4 of the Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition.
There are many different implementations of the Java 2 Platform running atop
a variety of operating systems. We focus Eclipse testing on a handful of popular
Eclipse SDK 3.1 is tested and validated on the following reference platforms:
Eclipse Reference Platforms
|
Operating system |
Processor architecture |
Window system |
Java 2 Platform |
Microsoft Windows XP |
Intel x86 |
Win32 |
Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, version 1.4.2_08 for Microsoft Windows |
Microsoft Windows XP |
Intel x86 |
Win32 |
IBM 32-bit SDK for Windows, Java 2 Technology Edition, Version 1.4.2 SR1a
|
Microsoft Windows XP |
Intel x86 |
Win32 |
Sun Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Update 2 for Microsoft Windows |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 3 |
Intel x86 |
GTK |
Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, 1.4.2_08 for Linux x86 |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 3 |
Intel x86 |
GTK |
IBM 32-bit SDK for Linux on Intel architecture, Java 2 Technology
Edition, Version 1.4.2 SR1a |
SLES 9 |
Intel x86 |
GTK |
Sun Java 2 Standard Edition, version 1.4.2_08 for Linux x86 |
SLES 9 |
Intel x86 |
GTK |
IBM 32-bit SDK for Linux on Intel architecture, Java 2 Technology
Edition, Version 1.4.2 SR1a |
Sun Solaris 8 |
SPARC |
Motif |
Sun Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition, 1.4.2_08 for Solaris SPARC |
HP HP-UX 11i |
hp9000
PA-RISC |
Motif |
HP-UX SDK for the Java 2 platform, version 1.4.2.07 for hp9000 PA-RISC |
IBM AIX 5L Version 5.2 |
PowerPC |
Motif |
IBM 32-bit SDK for AIX, Java 2 Technology Edition, Version 1.4.2 SR1a
|
Apple Mac OS X 10.3 |
PowerPC |
Carbon |
Java 2 Standard Edition 1.4.2 for Mac OS X |
Although untested, Eclipse should work fine on other OSes that support the
same window system. For Win32: Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, and Server 2003; SWT
HTML viewer requires Internet Explorer 5 (or higher). For GTK on other Linux
systems: version 2.2.1 of the GTK+ widget toolkit and associated librares (GLib,
Pango); SWT HTML viewer requires Mozilla 1.4GTK2. For Motif on other Linux
systems: Open Motif 2.1 (included); SWT HTML viewer requires Mozilla 1.4GTK2.
An early access version of Eclipse is also available for 64-bit Linux GTK.
Testing has been limited to early access 64-bit J2SEs running on x86-64 processors.
SWT is also supported on the QNX Neutrino operating system, x86 processor,
Photon window system, and IBM J9 VM version 2.0. Eclipse 3.1 on Windows or Linux
can be used cross develop QNX applications. (Eclipse 3.1 is unavailable on QNX
because there is currently no 1.4 J2SE for QNX.)
Internationalization
The Eclipse Platform is designed as the basis for internationalized products.
The user interface elements provided by the Eclipse SDK components, including
dialogs and error messages, are externalized. The English strings are provided
as the default resource bundles.
Latin-1 locales are supported by the Eclipse SDK on all of the above
operating environments; DBCS locales are supported by the Eclipse SDK on the
Windows, GTK, and Motif window systems; BIDI locales are supported by the
Eclipse SDK only on Windows operating environments.
The Eclipse SDK supports GB 18030 (level 1), the Chinese code page standard,
on Windows XP and 2000, and Linux.
German and Japanese locales are tested.
BIDI support
SWT fully supports BIDI on Windows only. On Linux GTK, SWT supports entering
and displaying BIDI text.
The Eclipse SDK is a development environment targeted at technical professionals
- not an end user application. However, the Eclipse SDK tools will permit technical
professionals who are working in English to build Hebrew/Arabic end user Java
programs which are themselves not based on the Eclipse SDK. The BIDI support
in the Eclipse SDK allows a Java programmer to work with BIDI strings, code
comments, etc. On the Windows platform only, the Eclipse SDK itself can be
localized for BIDI locales and the widget orientation will change appropriately.
2. Compatibility with Previous Releases
Compatibility of Release 3.1 with 3.0
Eclipse 3.1 is compatible with Eclipse 3.0.
API Contract Compatibility: Eclipse SDK 3.1 is upwards contract-compatible
with Eclipse SDK 3.0 except in those areas noted in the Eclipse
3.1 Plug-in Migration Guide. Programs that use affected APIs and extension
points will need to be ported to Eclipse SDK 3.1 APIs. Downward contract compatibility
is not supported. There is no guarantee that compliance with Eclipse SDK 3.1
APIs would ensure compliance with Eclipse SDK 3.0 APIs. Refer to Evolving
Java-based APIs for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain
contract compatibility.
Binary (plug-in) Compatibility: Eclipse SDK 3.1 is upwards binary-compatible
with Eclipse SDK 3.0 except in those areas noted in the Eclipse
3.1 Plug-in Migration Guide. Downward plug-in compatibility is not
supported. Plug-ins for Eclipse SDK 3.1 will not be usable in Eclipse SDK 3.0.
Refer to Evolving
Java-based APIs for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain
binary compatibility.
Source Compatibility: Eclipse SDK 3.1 is upwards source-compatible with
Eclipse SDK 3.0 except in the areas noted in the Eclipse
3.1 Plug-in Migration Guide. This means that source files written to
use Eclipse SDK 3.0 APIs might successfully compile and run against Eclipse
SDK 3.1 APIs, although this is not guaranteed. Downward source compatibility
is not supported. If source files use new Eclipse SDK APIs, they will not be
usable with an earlier version of the Eclipse SDK.
Workspace Compatibility: Eclipse SDK 3.1 is upwards workspace-compatible
with Eclipse SDK 3.0 unless noted. This means that workspaces and projects created
with Eclipse SDK 3.0 can be successfully opened by Eclipse SDK 3.1 and upgraded
to a 3.1 workspace. This includes both hidden metadata, which is localized to
a particular workspace, as well as metadata files found within a workspace project
(e.g., the .project file), which may propagate between workspaces via file copying
or team repositories. Individual plug-ins developed for Eclipse SDK 3.1 should
provide similar upwards compatibility for their hidden and visible workspace
metadata created by earlier versions; 3.1 plug-in developers are responsible
for ensuring that their plug-ins recognize 3.1, 3.0, 2.1, and 2.0 metadata and
process it appropriately. User interface session state may be discarded when
a workspace is upgraded. Downward workspace compatibility is not supported.
A workspace created (or opened) by a product based on Eclipse 3.1 will be unusable
with a product based an earlier version of Eclipse. Visible metadata files created
(or overwritten) by Eclipse 3.1 will generally be unusable with earlier versions
of Eclipse.
Non-compliant usage of APIs: All non-API methods and classes, and certainly
everything in a package with "internal" in its name, are considered
implementation details which may vary between operating environment and are
subject to change without notice. Client plug-ins that directly depend on anything
other than what is specified in the Eclipse SDK API are inherently unsupportable
and receive no guarantees about compatibility within a single release much less
with an earlier releases. Refer to How
to Use the Eclipse API for information about how to write compliant
plug-ins.
Compatibility of Release 3.1 with 2.1 and 2.0
Since Eclipse 3.0 is compatible with Eclipse 2.1 and 2.0 in most regards, and
Eclipse 3.1 is compatible with 3.0, it follows that 3.1 is also compatible with
2.1 and 2.0 in most aspects. If you are upgrading directly from 2.1 or 2.0,
refer also to the Eclipse
3.0 Plug-in Migration Guide for problems areas.
3. Known Issues
3.1 Platform
3.1.1 Core
3.1.2 Ant
3.1.3 Help
3.1.4 UI
3.1.5 Text
3.1.6 SWT
3.1.7 Team and CVS
3.1.8
Install/Update
3.1.9 Debug
3.1.10 Compare
3.2 Java Development Tools (JDT)
3.3 Plug-in Development Environment (PDE)
Note: Bug numbers refer to the Eclipse project bug database at http://dev.eclipse.org/bugs/
Installation/Configuration issues that can cause Eclipse to fail start
Here are some common problems that can cause Eclipse not to start:
- As shown above, Eclipse 3.1 requires at least a 1.4 VM. Perhaps an older
version of the VM is being found in your path. To explicitly specify which VM to
run with, use the Eclipse -vm command-line argument. (See also the
Running Eclipse section below.)
- Eclipse must be installed to a clean directory and not installed over top of
a previous installation. If you have done this then please re-install to a new
directory. If your workspace is in a child directory of your old installation
directory, then see the instructions below on Upgrading Workspace from a
Previous Release".
- Java sometimes has difficulty detecting whether a file system is writable. In
particular, the method java.io.File.canWrite() appears to return true in
unexpected cases (e.g., using Windows drive sharing where the share is a
read-only Samba drive). The Eclipse runtime generally needs a writable
configuration area and as a result of this problem, may erroneously detect the
current configuration location as writable. The net result is that Eclipse will
fail to start and depending on the circumstances, may fail to write a log file
with any details. To work around this, we suggest users experiencing this
problem set their configuration area explicitly using the -configuration command
line argument. (bug 67719)
Installing plug-ins by unzipping them into the plugins directory
If you have installed new plug-ins and they aren't showing up when you run,
then perhaps you unzipped them into your "plugins" directory and your
configuration might need to be refreshed. This can be accomplished by starting
Eclipse with the -clean command line argument.
XML files with UTF-8 byte order mark fail to have content type detected
Eclipse will fail to detect the proper content type for XML files that have a
UTF-8 byte order mark if Crimson is the XML parser (as it is on Sun 1.4 JREs,
but not on Sun 1.5 JREs). This
problem will prevent actions normally available when files of the affected
content types are selected from being presented to the user. The workaround is
to ensure the default XML parser supports UTF-8 BOMs (such as Xerces does). (bug
67048)
No branding with old config.ini
If you have an old config.ini file and use it with a new Eclipse build, you
may not get the correct product branding. This is because the id of the standard
Eclipse product changed. Users in shared install scenarios may end up in this
situation as previous builds of Eclipse automatically generated config.ini files
in some cases. The work around is either to delete the local config.ini or
update the eclipse.product line to read eclipse.product=org.eclipse.platform.ide.
Invalid characters
in install directory prevents Eclipse from starting
Eclipse will fail to launch if installed in a directory whose path
contains certain invalid characters, including :%#<>"!. The
workaround is to install Eclipse in a directory whose path does not contain
invalid characters. (bugs 3109
and 17281)
Problems with
classloaders in created threads
There is a known issue with trying to load classes from a newly-created
thread using a class loader different from the plug-in class loader. The result
will be a ClassNotFoundException
. As a workaround, do the
following:
- Create a thread in which to run your code.
- Send yourThread.setContextClassLoader(yourClassLoader); // you can find
your classloader by grabbing a class it loaded (YourPluginClass.class.getClassLoader())
- Run your code in the newly created thread.
If you set the context class loader for the current thread, you are
competing with other users of the thread (all of Eclipse), so the results will
be unpredictable. However, there should be no problem in practice provided you
reset the context class loader back to its original value when your use in the
current thread is complete. (bug 8907)
Deadlock creating executable
extension in Plugin.startup
If Plugin.startup
code is too complex and performs tasks such
as creating an executable extension, a deadlock situation can be created. Only
simple bookkeeping tasks should be performed in Plugin.startup
code. (bug 5875)
Potential Problems Converting Plug-in Manifests
If your plug-in ships with a plug-in manifest and not an OSGi bundle manifest,
is shipped as a JAR file, and contains a nested JAR file then there may be
problems in the automatic generation of the bundle manifest file. The packages
defined in the nested JAR may not be exported correctly in the Export-packages
bundle manifest header. To work around this you should ship your plug-in with a
bundle manifest. (bug 97689)
UTF-8 encoded buildfiles with Byte Order Mark
UTF-8 encoded buildfiles with byte order marks will fail to be parsed correctly depending on the XML parser being used for the build. Therefore a valid buildfile will fail to build with an error message similar to: "BUILD FAILED: C:\workspace\bom.xml:1: Document root element is missing.". To succeed in building with these files, ensure to include Xerces jars on the Ant runtime classpath so that the Xerces parser is used to parse the XML. As well the context menu for these files in the Navigator or Package Explorer will not have the run shortcuts for Ant builds. (bug
67048)
Custom Ant tasks and Ant
types must be separate from plug-in library JARs
Including the class files for custom Ant tasks or Ant types in the regular
code JAR for your plug-in causes problems. These class files must be provided in
a separate JAR that is contributed to the org.eclipse.ant.core.antTasks
or antTypes
extension point (and not declared as a library in the
plug-in's manifest). This ensures that the Ant tasks and types are loaded by the
special Ant class loader and not by a plug-in classloader. (bug 34466).
Concurrent Ant builds not
supported
Eclipse runs Ant in the same JVM as the rest of Eclipse. Several aspects
of Ant and its use of global Java resources (such as System.out and System.err),
make it unsafe to run more than one Ant build concurrently. (bug 24129).
Running certain Ant tasks
cause memory leakage
Certain Ant tasks are known to leak memory. Please see the bug report for
details, patches, and possible workarounds. (bug 24448)
Tasks that require input
lock up workspace
As with using Ant from the command line, prompts for input from the
console is not handled. This is not the same as making use of the <input>
task, which works correctly within Eclipse. (bug 21748)
No input handler supplied for <input> task when running Ant in a separate VM
By default, no input handler is supplied for the <input> task for a build running in a separate VM. Therefore the input requests will always fail. The user can supply an input handler using the -inputhandler argument. (bug
45484)
"version" property is always set when running Ant in the same VM as Eclipse
The Xalan libraries set system properties including a version property. These get set as properties within the Ant build and therefore the "version" property cannot be set within an Ant buildfile due to the immutable nature of Ant properties. This property will always be set to "2.4.1" for Ant builds in the same VM as Eclipse. (bug
45717)
XDoclet support from within Eclipse
Since there are differences when running Ant from the commandline and within Eclipse, some extra steps may be needed to have XDoclet support function correctly within Eclipse. Problems may occur creating XDoclet subtasks. The workarounds and full discussion can be found in bug report. (bug
37070)
Ant Editor code completion based on Ant 1.6.1
Code completion provided by the Ant editor does not respect the user-specified version of org.eclipse.ant.core plug-in or ANT_HOME. Code completion proposals are always based on Ant 1.6.1 (bug
30886)
Eclipse can hang due to implementation of the Ant <property> task (Windows 9X
only)
On Windows 9X, using:<property environment="env"/> will cause Eclipse to hang if the build occurs in the same VM as Eclipse. Running the build in a separate VM will hang the build but not Eclipse.
(bug 44196)
Help browser tool bar buttons do not work for some documents
The Help browser's Print, Synchronize, and Bookmark buttons do not work for
pages that are not actually installed with the product. However, you can always
use the print command in the browser's context menu to print the page you're
reading. (bug 44216)
Help documents not displayed
in a browser or very slow document loading (Windows only)
If your LAN settings are not properly configured for local host access, your
Help browser might open to a blank page or display an HTTP error instead of a
help page, or you may experience long delays when loading help documents. Your
system administrator can configure your LAN settings so that help documents can
be accessed from the local help server.
- In the Control Panel, open Internet Options, select the Connections
tab and choose LAN Settings.
- If your host was configured to use DHCP for IP assignment, make sure
that the "Automatically detect settings" check box is cleared.
- If you use a proxy server, ensure that the "Bypass proxy server
for local addresses" is selected.
- In "Advanced" settings for proxies, add
"127.0.0.1;localhost" to the "Exceptions" if these
addresses are not listed.
- If you are using an automatic configuration script for proxy
settings, and are not sure that the script is correct, clear the "Use
automatic configuration script" check box.
If the above steps do not fix your problem, try changing the port and host
properties on the Help > Help Server preference page. In general,
setting host
to localhost
or 127.0.0.1
should work. Also, especially when running a firewall, you may want to specify
port 80 or some other firewall-friendly value. (bugs 7036,
9418, 11394)
Working disconnected from
the network (Windows only)
If you are experiencing problems when not connected to the network, you must
install the loopback adapter from the Windows installation CD. (bug
831)
Using Internet Explorer in
offline mode (Windows only)
If you have been using Internet Explorer in Offline mode, when you access the
help system you will get a message indicating that the web page you requested is
not available offline or a blank page will display. Click
Connect or
deselect "Work Offline" in the Internet Explorer "File" menu
to return the system behavior to normal.
Help topics not highlighted in High Contrast mode (Windows only)
Windows High Contrast settings are not consistently picked up by Internet
Explorer when they are set from the Accessibility Options utility as opposed to
when they are set using the predefined schemes. On Windows XP, it is recommended
to set High Contrast as follows: Right click the desktop, chose properties,
select Windows Classic style from the Windows and buttons drop down on the
Appearance tab, and choose your scheme (for example High Contrast Black) from
Color Scheme drop down. (bug 28609)
Help browser displays a blank page
If you see a help launched with a blank page, and no errors displayed, it can
be caused by a conflict between libraries in org.eclipse.tomcat plug-in and jars
optionally installed in JRE jre/lib/ext directory. To fix the problem, ensure
that the JRE used for running Eclipse does not contain any J2EE or Apache jars
in the jre/lib/ext directory. (bug 63970)
High contrast settings
Eclipse was tested for High Contrast using 1152 x 864 resolution in Windows
XP High Contrast mode. You can select this mode by selecting Accessibility
Options > Display > Use High Contrast from the Windows XP Control Panel
menu.
Problem mixing dynamic and static pages within intro configs
The Intro support has the concept of dynamic and static pages. Dynamic pages
are described using the intro config XML content and static pages are HTML files
either local or remote. An intro config has the notation of being static or
dynamic, this is determined by the type of home page specified in the intro
presentation. The current implementation only allow dynamic pages to be used
within a dynamic intro and static pages within a static intro, i.e. they are
mutually exclusive.
To workaround this problem when using a dynamic intro, a dynamic page can use
the <html> element with the "type" attribute set to inline. This
will include a static HTML file in the dynamic page (bug 68490)
Default text file encoding
may be detected incorrectly (Windows XP/2000 only)
The "Text file encoding" value displayed in the Preferences
dialog under "Editors" may be wrong on platforms running Windows XP
(or 2000) when the user locale and system locale differ.
Example of the manifestation of the bug: A Japanese user using Japanese
Windows 2000 works in New York, United States. The user has selected English
(United States) as the user locale. The "Text file encoding" value
displayed by Eclipse is incorrect: "Cp1252" (English). It should
display the system locale "MS932" (Japanese).
Workaround: The user can modify the user locale so that user locale and
system locale are identical. In the example above, this means the user should
set Japanese as the user locale. Then restart Eclipse. The "Text file
encoding" value will then be correct: "MS932" (Japanese).
For Windows XP:
- To check the system locale: Open the Control Panel. Go to Regional and
Language Options. Switch to the Advanced tab. The system locale is specified
in "Language for non-Unicode programs".
- To change the user locale: Open the Control Panel. Go to Regional and
Language Options. The user locale can be modified by changing the language
in "Standards and formats".
For Windows 2000:
- To check the system locale: Open the Control Panel. Go to Regional
Options. Look up the items in the General tab, inside the "Language
settings for the system" group. The system locale is the item marked as
(Default).
- To change the user locale: Open the Control Panel. Go to Regional
Options. The user locale can be modified by changing the location in
"Settings for the current user".
(bug 20641)
Dirty state not tracked
properly for OLE documents (Windows only)
The dirty state for an OLE document is not updated properly. This causes
Eclipse to prompt to save the contents of the editor when the document is
closed, even if the contents have already been saved. (bug 2564)
OLE document crashes can
cause Eclipse to also crash (Windows only)
If an OLE document crashes, Eclipse can crash, or the workbench menus can
become inconsistent.
Problems opening external files
File > Open External File can fail when the editor opened for the external
file (as determined by Workbench > File Associations preferences) cannot not deal with
external files. (bug 58179)
Text editors does not show vertical ruler for external files
A text editor opened on a file external to the workspace does not show a vertical ruler.
So if you set breakpoints in the file, you won't see the breakpoints in the
editor (the breakpoints only show up in the Breakpoints view). (bug 54900)
Eclipse plug-in based on the SWT Browser throws exception
The SWT Browser widget uses a platform-specific web browser to render HTML.
The org.eclipse.swt.SWTError exception ("No more handles") is thrown
on platforms that don't meet the requirements for running the Browser widget.
Supported platforms and prerequisites are listed on the SWT FAQ item "Which
platforms are supported by the SWT Browser?".
Eclipse crashes on RedHat Linux 9 with Bluecurve (GTK+ only)
Users of the Bluecurve theme shipped with RedHat Linux 9 may experience problems running Eclipse.
These problems may include crashes or reduced performance.
(bugs 38305, 67906, 37683, 58738)
We recommend changing to a different theme.
Under GNOME, open RedHat Menu > Preferences > Theme. Select a theme other than Bluecurve. All applications should update at this point.
Under KDE, open RedHatMenu > Run Command... And then type in "gnome-theme-manager" and click "Run". Select a theme other than Bluecurve. The selection may jump to "Custom Theme" afterward; this is normal, and happens because the GNOME window manager is not running. All GTK+ applications should update to the new theme at this point.
Eclipse hangs when pasting from an unresponsive application (GTK only)
If the application that is supplying the clipboard material is unresponsive,
the paste operation hangs Eclipse for several minutes. This situation can be
encountered when copying from an Eclipse target workbench, suspending the target
workbench at a breakpoint and pasting into the hosting Eclipse workbench. (bug 44915)
Drag and drop on Mac (Mac OS X Carbon only)
The Mac OS X Carbon implementation of SWT does not support dragging from an SWT application to another application. (bug
68212)
Components in SWT_AWT are not displayed (Motif only)
On Motif systems (verified on Linux and Solaris) problems have been reported
by some developers in the support for embedding AWT widgets within SWT layouts.
These can range from the AWT widgets not being properly displayed to Java VM
crashes. The cause(s) of these problems has not yet been determined. (bug 68353)
Can't expand/collapse TableTree item with mouse (GTK only)
Under certain conditions and on certain versions of GTK, TableTree items,
such as those found in Property Sheets, cannot be expanded or collapsed using
the mouse. The workaround is to use the right and left arrow keys. (bug 38855)
Unable to drag data between
applications in simplified Chinese locale (Motif only)
When configured for the simplified Chinese locale, it is not possible to
drag data between applications running on the Motif window system. This is a
known limitation of the Open Motif library. (bug 29777)
Crash when attempting to
launch file browser (AIX Motif only)
There is a known AIX graphics bug affecting certain levels of AIX
releases. Ensure that the AIX install includes the necessary service updates as
described in the "Install notes/requirements for Eclipse on AIX"
attachment to the Eclipse bug report. (bug 34524)
Available colors on 8-bit
Linux (Linux only)
Typically, in Gnome Linux installs running with 8-bit visuals (i.e. 256
color mode), before the Eclipse application is started there are no free colors.
This may mean that Eclipse is unable to allocate the default widget background
color, causing it to display a white background. The functionality, however, is
otherwise unaffected.
List and ComboBox on Windows
NT (Windows NT only)
On Windows NT only, you should avoid creating items in a List
or ComboBox
with strings longer than 1000 characters. Doing so may
result in a General Protection Fault. This has been fixed in more recent
versions of Windows.
Excessive CPU
consumption (Linux GTK only)
When using Linux GTK 2.2.1, there are some scenarios where the CPU usage
goes to 100% for no good reason. When this occurs, resizing or closing the
dialog seems to return the CPU usage to normal. (bug 35443)
IME-related crash (Linux
Motif only)
When using Linux Motif and GB18030 IME "chinput", Eclipse can
crash if the IME client window is left open when the parent window is disposed.
(bug 32045)
Using IBM J9 VM (Photon and
AIX)
On QNX Photon and IBM AIX, the SWT library will not be found when running
with an IBM J9 1.5 VM. This is a bug in the IBM J9 class library in version 1.5.
You can workaround this problem by adding the SWT library directory to your
LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable.
Missing permissions for SWT
native libraries in workspace (HP-UX only)
When retrieving the SWT Motif fragment into an Eclipse workspace, the
permissions of the native libraries are reset. This creates a problem on HP-UX
because shared libraries need to have execute permission. Attempting to
self-host with this fragment throws an UnsatisfiedLinkError...Permission Denied
error. You must manually change the permissions to make these libraries
accessible (assume the workspace is at /workspace
):
cd /workspace/org.eclipse.swt.motif/os/hpux/PA_RISC
chmod 555 *.sl
(bug 20305
describes a related problem)
The following are known problems with the CVS repository provider only, and
do not apply to other repository providers. Additional information on how to use
CVS from Eclipse can be found in the Eclipse
CVS FAQ.
CVS server compatibility
The CVS plug-in parses messages returned from the CVS server. If the format
of these messages is not as expected, some of the plug-in's functionality may be
missing. The CVS plug-in is compatible with all stable 1.11.X builds of the CVS
server, and should be compatible with future releases in that stream unless text
message formats change (the last tested server was 1.11.20). As for the 1.12.X
feature releases of CVS, the Eclipse CVS client has been tested with builds up
to 1.12.12. However, future releases could easily break the Eclipse CVS client.
Basic functionality, such as Checkout, Commit, and Update, should always work,
but there may be problems with more advanced commands such as Synchronizing and
Browsing the repository. (bug 67627)
Cached authorization information lost when workspace is upgraded
The Platform's internal authorization database file location has changed for
3.0. Because of this, authorization information cached with a workspace created
with an earlier version of Eclipse will be unusable, and the user will need to
re-authenticate.
Issues upgrading from 2.x to 3.x
In 2.x, CVS used markers to identify outgoing additions and outgoing
deletions. In 3.x, these markers no longer exist because the Synchronize view
can be used to show the same information. If CVS markers exist in a workspace
that is upgraded to 3.x, they can be removed by performing a Project>Clean.
(bug 40593)
Issues upgrading from 1.0 to 3.x
In 1.0, CVS used a .vcm_meta file to store project configuration information.
In 2.0, this file was replaced by the .project file but CVS still read the
.vcm_meta file for backwards compatibility. In 3.x, the .vcm_meta file is no
longer read by CVS. Users who wish to upgrade from 1.0 to 3.x must first upgrade
to 2.x and then upgrade to 3.x if they wish to keep their project configuration
information (e.g. java project). (bug 43296)
Connection cannot be found after initially missing
If a connection initially fails due to a network problem, the connection may
continue to fail even when the network problem is fixed. In order to establish
the connection you must exit and restart Eclipse. (bug 9295)
"Received broken pipe signal" error from server
Eclipse sometimes performs multiple commands within a single connection to
the server. This may cause problems with CVS servers that are running server
scripts in response to certain commands. (bugs 23575
and 23581)
"Terminated with fatal signal 10" error from server
There is a bug in the CVS server related to some compression levels. If you
get this error, changing the compression level on the CVS preference page may
help. (bug 15724)
"Unknown response" error using ext connection method
There are a few situations that can result in an "Unknown response"
error messages when using the ext connection method. One situation involves
using an external communications client (e.g. rsh or ssh) that adds CRs to the
communications channel (bug 21180).
Another involves Eclipse not properly reading the stderr output of the external
communications tool. (bug 11633)
A disabled CVS capability may not be auto-enabled in existing workspaces
New in 3.0 is the ability to disable capabilities and the CVS support in
Eclipse can be disabled. However, for backwards compatibility the CVS capability
is auto-enabled in existing workspaces that already contain CVS projects. The
auto-enabling function may not run if the team support plugin is not loaded at
startup. (bug 66977)
Builder output files may appear as changed
When folders containing build output are shared they may get improperly
marked as dirty when build output is generated. (bug 50965)
Manually installing features and plug-ins on a FAT file system (Windows only)
When features and plug-ins are manually installed on top of an Eclipse-based
product install located on a FAT file system that has already been run at least
once, the product must be explicitly restarted with the system property
osgi.checkConfiguration set to true. This property can be set in the
eclipse/configuration/config.ini file, or passed to the eclipse command line via
the -vmargs option. For example, restart with the following command: eclipse.exe
-vmargs -Dosgi.checkConfiguration=true. Then, open Help > Software Updates > Manage
Configuration dialog and toggle on the "Show disabled features" button
its toolbar. Select the newly "installed" feature and press on the
"Enable feature" action on the right pane (or select the action from
the feature's context menu). (bugs 52525,
66120, 67461)
Non-responsive sites may use
all free threads
Prior to Eclipse 2.1, if the connection to an update site did not respond
(the site did not exist or was down), the workbench became non-responsive until
the connection request timed out. Since 2.1, connections are made by a separate
thread so that the UI stays responsive. Typically, unresponsive connections
eventually time out and these threads terminate. In rare cases, servers accept
the connection but never send a response, thereby keeping the connection thread
live indefinitely. Update manager limits the number of active connection threads
and will refuse to create more once the limit is reached. To work around the
problem, exit and restart Eclipse. (bugs 18598,
19775)
None. (Known problems with the Java debugger appear below in the JDT
section.)
None.
Searching for constant field references
Search does not find references to constant fields inside binaries because
the Java Language Specification mandates that constant field values be inlined
in the class file's bytecodes, leaving no trace of a field reference. (bug 12044)
Developing programs with J2SE 1.5
The Java tools do not yet fully support J2SE 1.5. You can run or debug programs against
a 1.5 JRE, and safely compile 1.4 programs against 1.5 libraries (the Eclipse compiler tolerates
them with the
exception of covariance scenarios which are forbidden byJava Language Specification (JLS) 2nd edition).
However, the Eclipse Java compiler and IDE are unable to handle source files
containing uses of any of the new Java language features being added in 1.5 (generics, enhanced for loops, static
imports, metadata annotations, varargs), which will be
codified in the forthcoming JLS 3rd edition. An
early preview of the full Eclipse support for J2SE 1.5 developed in parallel
with 3.0, and is available from the Cheetah
page. (bug 36938)
Missing secondary types in editor
When referencing a secondary type defined in another compilation unit (i.e., a
top level type whose name does not match its file name), the editor may
incorrectly report it to be missing. The Java compiler handles this case fine.
(bug 32505)
Java indexing crash recovery
The Java indexer analyzes modified Java files in the background. If the indexer
happens to crash (which it can under rare circumstances), it will automatically recover
and rebuild the affected indexes. If this happens, it adds an informative entry
to the .log file to. The rebuilt indexes are fine, and the crash does not impact
subsequent search
operations. (bug 66836)
Classpath entry denoting external class folder is now properly rejected
Although external class folders (i.e., folder containing .class files and located
outside workspace) were never properly supported by the JDT, a problem was never
reported
when constructing such a build path. JDT now properly diagnoses a problem in
this situation. In order to still benefit from external .class files, a
class folder must be mounted as a linked folder in Eclipse workspace (in project
properties, select Java Build Path > Libraries > Add Class Folder > Create
New Folder... > Advanced. Then a folder name can be associated with an
arbitrary file system location by checking "Link to folder on the file
system). Once mounted, the linked class folder can normally be referenced on a
build path, and from there on programs can be compiled against it. (bug 67631)
Plug-in Working sets in Java views
The Java views (e.g. Package explorer, Type Hiararchy, Open Type dialig, etc.)
support filtering their elements based on a working set. Although the dialog offers
to select a Plug-in working set, applying such a working set results in an empty view
(bug 67814).
Hierarchical layout and inclusion filters
Packages explicitly included on the build path using inclusion filters will
not be visible in either the Package Explorer or Packages views when the views
are set to hierarchical layout mode. Use the flat layout mode when using inclusion
filters. (bug 65240)
Problems after moving a compilation unit
Moving a compilation unit can cause an editor open on that file to behave
strangely. Closing and re-opening the editor fixes the problem. (bug 67046)
Stale spell check errors
Adding a new word to the spell checking dictionary does not correct the
corresponding spelling errors. The spelling errors do go away the next time you
change the file's content. (bug 68282)
Javadoc hover in the Java
editor
The Javadoc hover help shown when hovering over identifiers in the Java
editor does not handle links inside of Javadoc comments properly. (bug 20644)
Cut, copy, paste not working
for linked resources in views showing Java elements
The cut, copy, and paste actions do not work for linked files and folders
appearing in views that show Java elements, including the Package Explorer. The
workaround is to use these actions from the Navigator view instead. (bug 34568)
Java working sets not
working correctly for elements from JRE system library container
Applying a working set consisting entirely of elements from the JRE System
library container as a filter to the packages view might result in an empty
Package Explorer. (bug 35395)
Cannot generate Javadoc for
packages with GB18030 characters in the name
Most class libraries do not properly support the creation of a system
process (via java.lang.Runtime.exec(...)
) when the specified
command line contains GB18030 characters. Since Javadoc is created using the
Javadoc executable provided with the JDK, generating Javadoc fails if the
package or class name contains GB18030 characters. (bug 32215)
Side effects of Step into Selection and Run to Line
The actions "Step into Selection" and "Run to Line"
optimistically set breakpoints on the line the user has chosen to step into or
run to. However, the debugger can not determine if or when execution will ever
reach the chosen line. The breakpoints set by the underlying implementation are
not visible to the user and can cause execution to suspend unexpectedly at a
later time, when the associated line is actually executed. (bug 51507)
Default locale initialization incorrect
The default locale is generally initialized from the settings in the
operating system when a target VM is launched. However, when using javaw.exe on
JDK1.4.2, Windows XP, the default locale is incorrectly initialized to en_US, no
matter what the operating system settings are. (bug 65945)
Suspend on uncaught exception overrides exception breakpoint location filters
Exception breakpoints can be configured with location filters (inclusive and
exclusive). When an unchecked exception is configured to not suspend
execution in a specific class, execution will still suspend when the user
preference to suspend on uncaught exceptions is on. (bug 66770)
Multiple references to the same object do not update in Variables view
When more than one variable references the same object in the Variables view,
only one variable will update while stepping through source code. (bug 58768 and 98147)
Running Java programs with
non-Latin-1 characters in package or class names
You get a
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError
when running Java
programs with non-Latin characters in the package or class names. The workaround
is to package the class files as a JAR file and run the program out of the JAR
and not from the file system directly. (bug
4181)
Cannot run or debug class in
a project with GB18030 characters in project name
Most class libraries do not properly support the creation of a system
process (via java.lang.Runtime.exec(...)
) when the specified
command line contains GB18030 characters. This limitation means the debugger
cannot launch applications when the command line it generates contains GB18030
characters. (bug 32206)
Cannot detect installed JRE with GB18030 characters in path name
Automatic JRE detection fails when the JRE is stored in a directory
containing GB18030 characters in its name. (bug 33844)
Unable to debug stack
overflows
If a debug session suspends on a java.lang.StackOverflowError
exception (due to an exception breakpoint), the debugger may not be able to
retrieve any debug information from the target JVM. As well, the debugger may
not be able to reliably interact with the target JVM past this point. (bug 19217)
Evaluation limitation
The debugger uses threads in the target JVM to perform evaluations (both
explicit evaluations that the user requests, and implicit evaluations such as toString()
invocations in the Variables view). The Java Debug Interface (JDI)
requires that the thread in which an evaluation is performed be suspended by a
user event (that is, a breakpoint or step request). Evaluations cannot be
performed on threads suspended by the suspend action. As well, when a breakpoint
is configured to suspend the JVM rather than just the individual thread, the
threads which did not encounter the breakpoint are not in a valid state to
perform an evaluation. When an evaluation is attempted in a thread that is not
in a valid state to perform an evaluation, an error message will appear to the
effect of "Thread must be suspended by step or breakpoint to perform method
invocation". (bug 34440)
Missing debug attributes
The debugger requires that class files be compiled with debug attributes if
it is to be able to display line numbers and local variables. Quite often, class
libraries (for example, "
rt.jar
") are compiled without
complete debug attributes, and thus local variables and method arguments for
those classes are not visible in the debugger.
Using Hot Code Replace
Hot code replace is supported on JDK 1.4.x VMs, and IBM J9 VMs. The debugger
will attempt to replace all class files that change in the workspace as the user
edits and builds source code. However, hot code replace is limited to changes
that a particular virtual machine implementation supports. For example, changes
within existing methods may be supported, but the addition or removal of members
may not be.
Note that hot code replace and stepping on JDK 1.4.0 VMs was unreliable. The
underlying VM problems were fixed in JDK 1.4.1, and later.
Scrapbook
Setting a breakpoint inside a scrapbook page is not supported.
When a snippet is run in the scrapbook which directly or indirectly calls System.exit(int)
,
the evaluation cannot be completed, and will result in a stack trace for a com.sun.jdi.VMDisconnectedException
being displayed in the scrapbook editor.
Terminating a scrapbook page while it is performing an evaluation results
in a com.sun.jdi.VMDisconnectedException
being displayed in the
scrapbook editor.
Debugging over slow
connections
A global Java debug preference specifies the debugger timeout, which is the
maximum amount of time the debugger waits for a response from the target VM
after making a request of that VM. Slow connections may require that this value
be increased. The timeout value can be edited from the
Java > Debug preference
page. Changing the timeout value only effects subsequently launched VM, not VMs
that are already running.
Updating of inspected values
When inspecting the result of an evaluated _expression_ in the debugger, it is
important to note that the result displayed is the result of that _expression_ at
the time it was evaluated. For example, when inspecting a simple integer counter
(primitive data type), the value displayed in the Expressions view is the value
when the _expression_ was evaluated. As the counter is changed in the running
program, the inspected result will not change (since the view is not displaying
the value bound to a variable - it is displaying the value of an _expression_, and
the value of a primitive data type cannot change). However, if an _expression_
results in an object, fields of that object will be updated in the inspector as
they change in the running program (since the value bound to fields in an object
can change).
Stepping over native methods
that perform I/O
When the debugger steps over native methods that perform I/O to
System.out
or
System.err
, the output may not appear immediately unless the
native performs a flush on the output buffer.
VM and process termination
running on IBM 1.3 JVM on Linux (Linux only)
Terminating a launch, debug target, or system process associated with a debug
target running on the IBM 1.3 JVM on the Linux platform does not work when the
associated debug target has a suspended thread. To remove such debug targets
from the debug UI, select
Terminate and Remove from the debug view's
pop-up menu (or use the shortcut "delete" key). Associated system
processes in the OS may not be properly cleaned up. If a debug target has no
suspended threads, termination works properly. (bug
1631)
Memory View (Linux only)
The feature to automatically load segments of memory while scrolling in the Memory
view does not work on Linux. Instead the user must use the "Next Page" and "Previous Page" actions
to manually load memory segments (bug
74559)
Feature manifest editor does not preserve all comments
When a non-source page of the feature manifest editor is used, PDE will convert
changes back into XML by regenerating the file. Although the overall content and
most of the comments are preserved, some comments may be lost. (bug 59502)
Paste does not work in table viewers of the plug-in manifest editor
When you copy an item in one of the table viewers on the Dependencies,
Extensions or Extension Points pages of the plug-in manifest editor, you will
not be able to paste it. For copy and paste operations, use the source page of
the editor. (bug 67582)
PDE will not unzip source zips of some plug-ins
In the plug-in import wizard, when you choose to import plug-ins as
"projects with source folders", PDE will not unzip the source for the
org.apache.ant, org.eclipse.osgi.util and org.eclipse.osgi.services. This is
because the source ZIPs contains code that will not compile when unzipped as it
requires additional JARs that are not part of the SDK. To avoid the creation of
plug-in projects that won't compile, PDE will import these plug-ins as binary
and attach source, so you would still be able to read the source, you just won't
be able to modify it. Also, PDE will not unzip the source for the
org.eclipse.swt plug-ins. In this case, it is because, when shipped, the swt
code is spread across a plug-in and a fragment, and when unzipped, it will
require circular dependencies between the plug-in and fragment projects. These
circular dependencies are at minimum marked as warnings by the JDT compiler and
may result in unpredictable build behavior. Therefore, PDE always imports
org.eclipse.swt as binary with source attached. (bug 66314)
Search for an extension point reference may include a false hit
It is possible for an extension point search result to include a false hit in
the following specific scenario. If you open the plug-in manifest editor on a
plug-in that contains both a plugin.xml and manifest.mf, go to the Extension
Points page, select one of the extension points and click on 'Find references',
the result may include a false hit. The false hit would result only if another
plug-in in the product had declared an extension point by the same id.
Workaround in this case would be to perform the search through the Plug-in
search page. (bug 62177)
PDE source page colors do
not take effect on Apply
Changes to the colors PDE uses for source pages of its multi-page editors
are not immediately visible in opened editors after pressing the Apply button
on the Plug-in Development > Editors preference page. To work
around this problem, close the editor and and reopen it. (bug 33640)
Emacs key bindings do not
work in manifest editor fields
Non-default key bindings currently do not work in fields on non-source
pages of the PDE manifest editors. (bug 19482)
Plug-in import wizard does
not allow plug-ins of different versions to be imported
The Eclipse platform allows two plug-ins with the same ID but different
versions to coexist if the only thing they contribute is run-time libraries.
However, PDE cannot handle these plug-ins because it creates project names using
plug-in IDs during binary project import. (bug 18500)
Export of plug-in may silently drop classes
When exporting a plug-in using the plug-in, feature or product wizards, some classes
might be dropped from the resulting archive if their fully qualified name is too long.
This typical path limitation can be worked around by creating the jar of the problematic
plug-in by using the Jar export wizard.
(bug 97150)
Compilation errors when exporting projects not stored outside of the workspace
When exporting multiple plug-ins and one is stored outside of the workspace,
compile errors occurs on export. To work around the problem, you can either export
the plug-ins one by one, or change their location.
(bug 98579)
After installing the Eclipse SDK in a directory, you can start the Workbench
by running the Eclipse executable included with the release (you also need a 1.4
JRE, not included with the Eclipse SDK). On Windows, the executable file is called eclipse.exe,
and is located in the eclipse
subdirectory of the install. If
installed at c:\eclipse-SDK-3.1-win32
, the executable is c:\eclipse-SDK-3.1-win32\eclipse\eclipse.exe
.
Note: Set-up on most other operating environments is analogous. Special
instructions for Mac OS X are listed below.
By default, Eclipse will allocate up to 256 megabytes of Java memory. This should
be ample for all typical development tasks. However, depending on the JRE
that you are running, the number of additional plug-ins you are using, and
the number of files you will be working with, you could conceivably have to increase this amount.
Eclipse allows you to pass arguments directly to the Java VM using the
-vmargs
command line argument, which must follow all other Eclipse specific arguments.
Thus, to increase the available memory, you would typically use:
eclipse -vmargs -Xmx<memory size>
with the <memory size>
value set to greater than
"256M" (256 megabytes -- the default).
Note that setting this value to be larger than the amount of available physical
memory on your machine will cause Java to "thrash" as it copies objects
back and forth to virtual memory, which will severely degrade your performance.
When the Workbench is launched, the first thing you see is a
dialog that allows you to select where the workspace will be located. The
workspace is the directory where your work will be stored.
If you do not specify otherwise, Eclipse creates the workspace in your
user directory.
This workspace directory is used as the default content area for your projects
as well as for holding any required metadata. For shared or multi-workspace
installs you must explicitly specify the location for your workspace using the
dialog (or via the "-data
" command line argument).
Here is a typical Eclipse command line:
eclipse -vm c:\jdk1.4.2\jre\bin\javaw -vmargs -Xmx256M
Tip: It's generally a good idea to explicitly specify which Java VM to
use when running Eclipse. This is achieved with the "-vm
"
command line argument as illustrated above. If you don't use "-vm
",
Eclipse will look on the O/S path. When you install other Java-based products,
they may change your path and could result in a different Java VM being used
when you next launch Eclipse.
To create a Windows shortcut to an installed Eclipse:
- Navigate to
eclipse.exe
in Windows Explorer and use Create
Shortcut on the content menu.
- Select the shortcut and edit its Properties. In the Target: field append
the command
line arguments.
Opening this shortcut launches Eclipse. (You can
drag the shortcut to the Windows Desktop if you want to keep it in easy reach.)
On Mac OS X, you start Eclipse by double clicking the Eclipse application. If you need to pass arguments to Eclipse, you'll have to edit the Info.plist
file
inside the Eclipse application bundle: select the Eclipse application bundle icon while holding down the Control Key.
This will present you with a popup menu. Select "Show Package Contents" in the popup menu.
Locate Info.plist
file in the Contents
subfolder and open it with your favorite text editor.
Add to, remove from or edit the command line options listed at the end of the file for the "Eclipse" key.
If you need to launch Eclipse from the command line, you can use the symbolic link "eclipse" in the
top-level eclipse folder. It refers to the eclipse executable inside the application bundle and takes
the same arguments as "eclipse.exe" on other platforms. Due to a platform limitation you cannot
pass an arbitrary Java VM to the "-vm
" option, but must use the program "java_swt
" found inside
the application bundle; for example:
cd <eclipse directory>
./eclipse -vm Eclipse.app/Contents/MacOS/java_swt
5. Upgrading Workspace from a Previous Release
Users who don't use "-data"
If you weren't previously using "-data" to specify your workspace,
follow these steps to upgrade:
- Find the workspace directory used by your old version of Eclipse.
Typically this is located inside the directory in which Eclipse was
installed in a subdirectory called "
workspace
". If
you are using a shortcut or script to launch Eclipse, then it will be under
the current working directory of that shortcut or script in a subdirectory
called "workspace". For Windows users, this is specified by the
"Start in:" argument in your shortcut properties.
- Copy this workspace directory to a new, empty location outside of any
Eclipse install directory.
- Install the new version of Eclipse in a new location, separate from any
old version of Eclipse.
- If you had installed additional features and plug-ins into your old
Eclipse, you should re-install them in the new Eclipse.
- Start this new version of Eclipse and select
this location using the workspace chooser dialog at startup (or use "
-data
"
command line argument to pre-select the workspace location).
Users who do use "-data"
If you were previously using the "-data
" argument to
start Eclipse, your upgrade path is much easier:
- Optionally copy your workspace directory to a new, empty location outside of any
Eclipse install directory as a backup.
- Install the new version of Eclipse in a new location, separate from any
old versions of Eclipse.
- If you had installed additional features and plug-ins into your old
Eclipse, you should re-install them in the new Eclipse.
- Start this new version of Eclipse and select this location using the workspace chooser dialog at
startup (or use "
-data
"
command line argument to pre-select the workspace location).
Note: Copying your workspace is recommended because,
after you've upgraded your workspace, you won't be able to use it
again with an older version of Eclipse. If you ever want to go "back in
time" to an earlier release, you will need that backup.
6.1 Interoperability of Release 3.1 and 3.0
Sharing projects between heterogeneous Eclipse 3.1 and 3.0
Special care is required when a project in a team repository is being loaded
and operated on by developers using Eclipse-based products based on different
feature or plug-in versions. The general problem is that the existence,
contents, and interpretation of metadata files in the workspaces may be specific
to a particular feature or plug-in version, and differ between versions. The
workspace compatibility guarantees only cover cases where all developers upgrade
their Eclipse workspaces in lock step. In those cases there should be no problem
with shared metadata. However, when some developers are working in Eclipse 3.1
while others are working in Eclipse 3.0, there are no such guarantees.
This section provides advice for what to do and to not do. It addresses the
specific issues with the Eclipse SDK.
The typical failure mode is noticed by the 3.1 user. 3.1 metadata is lost
when a 3.0 user saves changes and then commits the updated metadata files to the
repository. Here's how things typically go awry:
- A user working in Eclipse 3.1 creates or modifies a project in a way that
results in changes to a shared metadata file that rely on 3.1-specific
information. The user then commits the updated project files, including the
shared metadata file, to the shared repository.
- Another user working in Eclipse 3.0 shares this project from the same
repository. The 3.1-specific information in the shared metadata file is not
understood by Eclipse 3.0, and is generally discarded or ignored without
warning. The user modifies the project in a way that results in changes to
the shared metadata file, causing the shared metadata file to be rewritten
without any of the 3.1-specific information. The user commits the updated
project files, including the shared metadata file, to the shared repository.
The user is generally unaware that shared information has just been lost as
a result of their actions.
- A user working in Eclipse 3.1 picks up the changes to a project from the
shared repository, including the updated shared metadata file. The user may
be unaware that they have just taken a retrograde step until later when
things start to malfunction.
Here are a list of things to watch out for when the project is to be shared
between users of Eclipses 3.1 and 3.0:
- External tool (Ant) builders
Information about external tool builder is recorded in the project's .project
file. The format of the information changed between 2.1 and 3.0. Builders
created or changed in 3.0 use the new format, which is not understood by a
2.1 workspace. Builders created in 2.1 use the old format and continue to
work in 2.1. Builders from a 2.1 workspace can be viewed in a 3.0 workspace
in read-only mode. Recommendation: Always create or edit external tools
builders from a 2.1 workspace.
- Optional inclusion patterns on Java source entries on the build class path
This support was added in 3.0. This information is recorded in the project's
.classpath
file. Recommendation: do not specify inclusion patterns. Better still, disable
exclusion patterns via the Java
> Compiler > Build Path preference page.
Using Eclipse 3.1 to develop plug-ins that work in Eclipse 3.0
It is also possible (and reasonable) to use Eclipse 3.1 to develop a plug-in
intended to work in Eclipse 3.0 or earlier. Use the Plug-in Development > Target
Platform preference page to locate non-workspace plug-ins in an Eclipse 3.0
install. This ensures that the code for your plug-in is being compiled and
tested against Eclipse 3.0 APIs, extension points, and plug-ins. (The above list
of concerns do not apply since they affect the layout and interpretation of
files in the plug-in project but none affect the actual deployed form of
the plug-in.)
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