Installation of the latest eclipse Java EE IDE in (K)Ubuntu 11.04 x64

Prerequests

• Java JRE (ubuntu packages sun-java6-jre or openjdk-6-jre).
• Current Ubuntu repositories package (eclipse 3.5 (galileo)), which will be purged after installation/configuration of the latest eclipse. If it is not present install it using the command:
  

  sudo apt-get install eclipse

Download

• The latest eclipse version (currently eclipse 3.7 (indigo) eclipse-jee-indigo-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz).

Installation/Configuration

• To (temporally) install the latest version (placed for example in ~/Downloads) at /usr/lib/eclipse_indigo/eclipse, open a terminal and give the commands:
  

  cd /usr/lib
  sudo mkdir eclipse_indigo
  cd eclipse_indigo
  sudo tar zxvf ~/Downloads/eclipse-jee-indigo-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz

• Keep the current (executable) script:
  

  sudo cp /usr/bin/eclipse /usr/bin/eclipse.curr

• Purge ubuntu eclipse:
  

  sudo apt-get purge eclipse
  sudo apt-get autoremove

• Move (as root) the latest eclipse from /usr/lib/eclipse_indigo/eclipse to /usr/lib:
  

  sudo rm -r /usr/lib/eclipse
  sudo mv /usr/lib/eclipse_indigo/eclipse /usr/lib
  sudo rmdir /usr/lib/eclipse_indigo

• Move back (as root) the executable /usr/bin/eclipse:
  

  sudo mv /usr/bin/eclipse.curr /usr/bin/eclipse

• Open as root the file /usr/bin/eclipse and change all occurrences of galileo to indigo.
• Copy /usr/lib/eclipse/eclipse.ini to /etc
  

  sudo rm /etc/eclipse.ini
  sudo cp /usr/lib/eclipse/eclipse.ini /etc

• As root create the file /usr/share/applications/eclipse.desktop to make a new (kde) menu entry:
  

  [Desktop Entry]
  Comment[en_US]=
  Comment=
  Exec=/usr/bin/eclipse
  GenericName[en_US]=Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo)
  GenericName=Eclipse 3.7 (Indigo)
  Icon=/usr/lib/eclipse/icon.xpm
  MimeType=
  Name[en_US]=eclipse
  Name=eclipse
  Path=
  StartupNotify=true
  Terminal=false
  TerminalOptions=
  Type=Application
  X-DBUS-ServiceName=
  X-DBUS-StartupType=
  X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
  X-KDE-Username=
  X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=desktop_kdebase

  If this entry is placed in "Lost & Found" menu category, move it to "Development", using the KDE Menu Editor.

Relevant Links

• See here and here.