Installing Eclipse on Ubuntu 12.10

I use Eclipse for my Java Development.  So, here’s what I went through to install it

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Latest Version

The version in the repositories is 3.8, but that’s not the latest version:

The latest version on the website is 4.2.

I downloaded the Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers, but I think any of the versions will work just as well.

Installing

I had downloaded it in the download folder.  So, I just extracted it there:

cd ~/Downloads
tar -xzvf

Then, I copied it to /usr/share:

sudo cp -r eclipse /usr/share/

Rather than put the eclipse binary on the path, I did a symbolic link to put it in the /usr/bin directory:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/eclipse/eclipse /usr/bin/eclipse

Launcher

Using the Main Menu application, I created a new launcher.  Since eclipse is in the path, I could just enter “eclipse” for the command without the full directory location.

The icon didn’t work out well.  So, I ran this command to convert it:

sudo convert icon.xpm -resize 48x48 /usr/share/icons/eclipse.png

Here’s the launcher all put together:

Installing Plugins

First, I had to go to Window > Preferences.  Under Install/Update > Available Software, there were no sites.  So, I had to add them.

I found this generic URL: http://download.eclipse.org/releases/juno/

Next, I went to Help > Install New Software.  I had to select “All Available Sites” in the drop down.  It showed “Pending…” for a while, but eventually, it showed a list of available plugins.  These are the ones that I chose:

• Collaboration > Eclipse EGit
• Collaboration > Eclipse EGit Mylyn GitHub Feature
• Collaboration > Mylyn Context Connector: Java Development
• Collaboration > Mylyn Context Connector: Plug-in Development
• Collaboration > Mylyn Task List
• Collaboration > Mylyn Task-Focused Interface
• Collaboration > Mylyn Versions Connector: Git
• General Purpose Tools > Swing Designer
• Web, XML, Java EE and OSGi Enterprise Development > Eclipse Web Developer Tools
• Web, XML, Java EE and OSGi Enterprise Development > Eclipse Java Web Developer Tools
• Web, XML, Java EE and OSGi Enterprise Development > Eclipse XML Editors and Tools
• Web, XML, Java EE and OSGi Enterprise Development > Javascript Development Tools
• Web, XML, Java EE and OSGi Enterprise Development > PHP Development Tools

Here’s the confirmation screen after clicking next:

Android SDK

I downloaded the SDK from the Google website.

After downloading it, I used File Roller to drag/extract it to my ~/app folder.

Next, I wanted to add these tools to the path so I could run them from anywhere.  As recommended by Josh, I created a ~/.bash_profile that looked like this:

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
 source ~/.bashrc
fi

Then, I created my ~/.bashrc to look like this:

export PATH=$HOME/app/android-sdk-linux/tools:$HOME/app/android-sdk-linux/platform-tools:$PATH

Then, I created launchers in the main menu to make opening these tools easier.  I added the following two commands:

• /home/skp/app/android-sdk-linux/tools/android sdk
• /home/skp/app/android-sdk-linux/tools/ddms

Now, it is time to install the SDK components.  I opened “android sdk”, and I select the whole folder for Tools and Android 4.2.  Finally, I selected install (9 packages) from the bottom right corner.

Next, I had to install the CDT Plugin into Eclipse.  So, I opened Eclipse, and went to Window > Preferences.  Then, I went to Install/Update > Available Software Sites.  I clicked the “Add…” button.  I added the URL from the instructions:

https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

For some reason, I had to restart Eclipse, before it would show me the site on the Install screen.  After restarting Eclipse, I went to Help > Install New Software…  There I selected the Site and the “Developer Tools” option to install.

Finally, once installed and Eclipse restarted, you have to confirm that you have the path to the SDK in the perferences.  Go to Window > Preferences.  Then, look under Android:

Java FX

I have been wanting to upgrade some of my projects to use Java FX, but I haven’t had the time to get to it.  The first step is getting Java FX installed.

I found a scene builder on the developer preview Oracle’s website.

When I checked for the Java FX SDK, I found that it was already included in my Java 7 install.  This scene builder is the only thing I needed to install.  It was an easy download, and I could install the Deb file just by double clicking on it.

Resources

• YouTube: Install Eclipse IDE and Oracle Java7 JDK on Ubuntu