How to Install Eclipse 4.8 on Ubuntu 18.04 & 16.04 LTS

    RahulBy 2 Mins ReadUpdated:

    This how-to tutorial will help you to install and configure Eclipse IDE for Java Enterprise developers on your Ubuntu and Linuxmint systems. Eclipse provides IDE for various programming languages, testing etc. In this how-to guide, we used Eclipse for Java EE developers. You can download Eclipse version required for your and the remaining steps are similar for all. Let’s follow the tutorial to install Eclipse Oxygen 4.8 Photon R for Java EE developers.

    Step 1 – Prerequisites

    Eclipse required Java to be installed on your system. Make sure you have proper Java installed. If you don’t have Java installed, Use below link for the JDK/JRE installation on your system.

    Install Java on Ubuntu and LinuxMint
    Install Java on Debian

    Step 2 – Download Eclipse

    Eclipse IDE is available for Java EE developers, JAVA developers, PHP developer, C and C++ developers, JavaScript developers, and many other programmers. You can download required IDE from its official website.

    Download Eclipse from here

    For this tutorial, I have download Eclipse IDE for Java EE developers. You have other options available on download page.

    Step 3 – Configure Eclipse IDE

    I assume you have downloaded Eclipse source code (eclipse-jee-photon-R-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz). Extract the Eclipse archive file under /opt directory. It’s not a recommended location, you can change this location as you want. After extract, a directory named eclipse will be created.

    tar -zxvf eclipse-jee-photon-R-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz -C /opt

    It’s ready to use the Eclipse application. Simply create an eclipse binary symbolic link to make it accessible system-wide.

    ln -s /opt/eclipse/eclipse /usr/local/bin/eclipse

    Type eclipse on command prompt to launch the Eclipse IDE. Follow the next step to create an Eclipse desktop launcher.

    Step 4 – Configure Eclipse Launcher

    The Eclipse IDE is accessible from the command line. In this step create a desktop launcher for the Eclipse. In this step simply create an eclipse.desktop file at below location.

    vim /usr/share/applications/eclipse.desktop

    Add the entry to file and save it.

    [Desktop Entry]
Name=Eclipse
Comment=Eclipse IDE
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=/usr/local/bin/eclipse
Icon=/opt/eclipse/icon.xpm
Categories=GNOME;Application;Development;
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=true

    Now search the Eclipse in GNOME search, You will find the icon as below screenshot. Click this launcher to launch Eclipse IDE.

    Step 5 – Enable Java 9 Support to Eclipse

    Are you using Java 9? if yes, you need to enable the support of Java 9 in your Eclipse workspace. Visit below link to enable Java 9 support.

    https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/java-9-support-beta-oxygen

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    2 Comments

    1. Anders Jackson on

      You should never install something under /bin or /usr/bin, as that is under control of the package system. So if you install something there, it will become a problem later if you install packages.

      So you should install your own software binary or launcher scripts under /usr/local/bin, if you want it to be accessible for every user.

      So
      ln -s /usr/local/eclipse/eclipse /usr/bin/eclipse
      should actually be
      ln -s /usr/local/eclipse/eclipse /usr/local/bin/eclipse

      (and /usr/local/ is a valid installation directory, like you done. /opt/ is also one that usually are the place for third party software that isn’t compiled, like Eclipse here. Then just make a /usr/local/bin/emacs link to /opt/eclipse/eclipse-photo/eclipse to make everyone to be able to run it)

      Reply

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