I usually install Eclipse on Linux (Ubuntu and Fedora) from official
tarballs, and this is what I do:
- unpack tarball on /usr/local/eclipse-xxx
- make a symlink /usr/local/eclipse pointing to
/usr/local/eclipse-xxx/eclipse
- chown -R root.root /usr/local/eclipse/*
I also have a wrapper script to start Eclipse from /usr/local/eclipse/ on
/usr/local/bin. This setup works just fine for me, and allows me great
flexibility. The only detail that annoys me is the fact that I have to
reinstall all plugins (Subclipse, Mylyn connectors etc) after an upgrade.
I understand this is necessary for major upgrades (eg. 3.2 --> 3.3), but
it shouldn't be necessary for minor upgrades (eg. 3.3 --> 3.3.1, 3.3.1 -->
3.3.1.1 etc.) AFAICS.
Am I doing anything wrong? Can I put plugins on a centralized place? If
so, is this desirable or should I avoid it?