Installing Eclipse 3.4 + PDT 2.x (nightly build)

I told you previously about my frustration getting eclipse 3.3 as a default in the latest ubuntu (Hardy Heron 8.04 ). It looks like they are not going to come up with a solution soon.
This guide will take you through the steps howto get the latest Eclipse together with PDT (PHP development Tools) running on your ubuntu box (Feisty or Hardy). Windows users, this guide will also help you throughout the process of installing our favourite PHP IDE (get that Zend ?).

Downloading all files :

get Eclipse 3.4

Goto the eclipse download site and pick one of the Ganymede (codename for 3.4) packages. As i only need eclipse for PHP development i went for the “Eclipse Classic” package (about 150MB).

get Eclipse PDT (2.0 nightly build)

The PDT download page offers alot of different packages. As we are using eclipse 3.4 we will have to go for the 2.x release. Select the “2.0.0 Nightly Build” option and download the package (about 6MB), you don’t need the PDT JUnit Plugin Tests and Automated Testing Framework so just select the first option.

move the files

Ok that’s it, now you should have 2 files :

• eclipse-SDK-3.4-linux-gtk.tar.gz
• org.eclipse.php_feature-I20080707.zip

Move those files to your home directory in a folder called “eclipsepdt”.

Unpacking everything:

Fire up a terminal window and move to the “eclipsepdt” folder

cd ~
cd eclipsepdt

Now unpack both files

unzip org.eclipse.php_feature-*.zip
mv eclipse pdt
tar -zxvf eclipse-SDK-3.4-linux-gtk.tar.gz

Now when you ls -all it should something like this :

Cleanup : remove archives:

Once that’s done, you will want to remove the archives (already unpacked).

rm eclipse*.tar.gz;rm org.eclipse.php*.zip

This should leave you with a clean folder containing all needed files. You should see something very similar to this :

Correct Java Installation

Install Sun’s Java

Luckily java’s sun is in ubuntu’s package library, so we can use aptitude. If you don’t want Java 6, you can use Java 5 too (sun-java5-jdk. After this command it will ask you to accept a few terms & agreements, and press OK a few times, just follow instructions.

sudo apt-get install eclipse sun-java6-jdk

Tell Ubuntu to use Sun’s Java

This will install the required packages, however, Eclipse will run very
slowly since (by default) it will be using GNU’s java, not Sun’s. We now need to tell ubuntu to use Sun’s java as the default one (for those using java 5, replace
java-6-sun with java-1.5.0-sun).

sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-6-sun

Next, edit the JVM configuration file

sudo -b gedit /etc/jvm

and add the following line ON TOP

/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun

Tell Eclipse to use Sun’s Java

If you thought that this was it for the java part you are mistaking. There is a bug where Eclipse totally ignores the default java set in Ubuntu (bug 45347 ). That’s why you need to tell Eclipse explicitly to use the one you just installed.

sudo -b gedit /etc/eclipse/java_home

And add

/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun

On top of that file. Now we’re all set for the java part. Pfew…

Install PDT

As we downloaded Eclipse and PDT separately, you need to tell that Eclipse installation to install the PDT project libraries. So launch Eclipse

~/eclipsepdt/eclipse/eclipse

If all goes well you should see something like :

Feel free to scream if you want to. Press “OK” when eclipse asks you which workspace you want to open (unless you know what you are doing). This is really not important at this point in time, we need to get the PDT functionality running first.
Now go to Help (alt + H) => “Software Updates” and click the “Add Site” button (right side).

Now click the “Local” button (again right side) and navigatie to your home directory/eclipsepdt/pdt or just enter “~/eclipsepdt/pdt/” in the Location bar. Then confirm using the OK button (hmm i am making this one really dummy proof).
If everything goes well you should see something similar to this :

Note the local folder (eclipsepdt/pdt) being on top.
Now check the PDT feature and click install (guess where ?). Eclipse will now try to locate and include all PDT dependencies (previously you had to resolve those dependencies manually). A few seconds later it should give you an “install” window mentioning “your original request has been modified”.

This basically means that eclipse added the PDT dependencies to your installation queue . If you want to go on (why wouldn’t you if you came this far) just press the Next button. Next page, accept the terms and conditions. (i am letting this one slip from the screenshot gallery) and press Finish.

Now it’s time to go for a cup of coffee.

That’s it, reload eclipse and enjoy the PDT features.
Some interesting links :

• Getting Started using Eclipse PDT
• Using Eclipse

If you like this post, just help the community by making your voice count :

• Ubuntu Brainstorm #1265 : Make eclipse a priority
• Launchpad bug #123064 : Upgrade to Eclipse 3.4