I don't recall the "install new updates" feature ever offering to perform a major release, certainly not without explaining that it's doing so like just happened with Juno. I unintentionally updated and it appears to have done an in-place update. This whole process is new behavior, right?
Is there any way to safely downgrade back to Indigo?
You can also go to Help>About>Installation Details>Installation History. If you select a configuration prior to your last update, you can ask p2 to try and revert to that configuration (it will try and re-download any older plugins that have been deleted by the upgrade from the repositories available in the preferences).
Get a copy of Indigo and unzip it to a new directory.
Add your other Eclipse plug-ins from their web sites.
Zip up your newly created version of Indigo so you can restore it if you accidentally upgrade again.
Related
To upgrade to a new version, the eclipse FAQ suggests to add a new repository and then install available updates. Upgrading to Neon, the corresponding repository is http://download.eclipse.org/releases/neon/.
On this page, it says:
NOTE: Due to structural changes you cannot update from a Mars (or prior) all-in-one package to a Neon version. If interested in the technical details, see bug 332989 and bug 490515.
I still tried to above procedure, but no updates were found. What is the best way to upgrade from Mars to Neon? A complete new installation? How do I preserve my settings?
The note on the repository page is right. Thanks to your report, I edited the FAQ to make it clear that upgrading packages from Mars to Neon is not supported.
Instead you need to to a fresh install for Neon (or later).
I tried to upgrade in the recommended way, by adding the repository links and doing an update, but then I got a lot of conflict messages. I foolishly tried to remove the conflicting software components, until it told me that Eclipse itself was the conflict! I posted my problem to the Eclipse Forums, and was told by a regular with tens of thousands of posts that Neon was so different that I should not even try to upgrade, just create a new installation. When I tried to do that however, I got lots of warnings "That the artifact download is progressing very slowly from ..."
It is not possible to upgrade from Mars (or earlier versions), so a new install is needed.
This can be in parallel with the old install. From the FAQ:
Fresh install
If you prefer not performing an update (for example
because some 3rd-party content isn't ready for the current release of
Eclipse IDE so the update reports conflicts), you can still download a
fresh install of the Eclipse IDE and install it in another location on
your filesystem, and use it together with the previous version.
To do so, download a new build from the Eclipse download Web site
(https://www.eclipse.org/downloads/eclipse-packages/) and run the
installer or unzip the archive in a new directory. We strongly
recommend against installing/unzipping over your existing version of
Eclipse IDE as it may corrupt your installation.
When you start a new version of Eclipse IDE, you can use the same
existing workspace folder that you were using with older version. The
workspace will be migrated to newer version and Eclipse IDE will to
reuse all configuration. The workspace is forward compatible
I am using Eclipse Mars.2 Release 4.5.2.
When I check for updates Eclipse shows the following item:
Object Teams Patch for JDT/Core
This feature is NOT a regular update of the JDT, but REPLACES the org.exlipse.jdt.core plugin by the corresponding version for Object Teams.
This change makes the JDT Core capable to handle OT/J code.
When I click on finish the window goes away and Eclipse says that I need to restart for the changes to take effect. When I restart and check for updates the update is still there and not installed.
Is there a way to get rid of this update?
Do you have this feature installed? If yes and if you don't use it, I suggest you simply go an remove it (Help > About Eclipse... > Installation Details > Installed Software, you'll see an Uninstall button).
If this persists, it could be a small issue in the main Eclipse update-site, so you should report it to http://bugs.eclipse.org .
I am using Eclipse 3.6, and looking to update the installation to newer release, that is 3.7. Instead of downloading the whole package, can I just perform a update(distribution update)? Is there exists any way to easily achieve this?
I would not recommend that. Eclipse minor versions are more like major versions (updated once a year), so most (if not all) of the plugins are updated in the meantime. There are 2 aspects here:
The download time for all of the updated plugins may be higher than the download time for the whole bundle.
There is no guarantee that all of the plugins may be upgraded seamlessly. That means that your updated environment may not work well together.
One indication that helps is that each new eclipse release comes with new update sites. My rule of thumb is, that updates are possible with the same update site, but with a complete new version with a new update site, I always install the new release all together.
Start Eclipse; from the Help menu, choose "Check for Updates". It starts searching for updates - this may take a while, but when finished you can see a list of available updates for Eclipse (including any supported plugins that you installed). Select the update(s) you want to install and click "Next".
In the past I've always downloaded the new version, and then manually reinstalled all of the plugins I use - but this is tedious in the extreme.
Is there a way to upgrade Eclipse "in-place"? How do I do this exactly?
The approach below worked for me, and seems to be the easiest. It's from this eclipse FAQ and slightly modified for clarity:
For upgrading from Eclipse 3.5+ to 3.6+
Help -> Install New Software
Enter the release update site url eg. 'http://download.eclipse.org/releases/indigo' <- if upgrading from 3.5 or 3.6 (Helios) to 3.7 (Indigo)
Click Add
Click Cancel
Help -> Check for Updates
Note: The original URL has changed. (I've left the original link for posterity)
following the NEW FAQ instructions
Also you may have to remove any incompatible updates plugins before proceeding.
(For Example: JBoss Tools has different versions for Helios and Indigo that are incompatible)
Update: I didn't try this when upgrading from 3.x to 4.x (Juno). I just set up a whole new workspace. I think I read somewhere that doing that is the safest approach to upgrading major versions.
As of 3.7 (Indigo), you may export/import install configurations via the
File > Import/Export > Install menu.
This allows you to install a new release of Eclipse, point it at your
existing workspace, and install your plugins from an older installed
copy.
If you always download all plugins manually and then deploy it by copying to dropins folder, then while migrating to newer version, just need to copy that folder to the new eclipse.
And even not all plugins will support newer version of Eclipse so I guess there is no really easy way available to do the migration.
The answer is, there is none. It's pointless to speculate here as to why the Eclipse community chooses not to make one. They haven't.
In the past I have had problems upgrading from release to release of Eclipse. I was wondering how the Eclipse users on StackOverflow dealt with upgrading from release to release of Eclipse.
Is using a Distro the solution?
Staying on a past release point until you are forced forward, a good idea?
Lately I have just reloaded from scratch; renaming my root Eclipse dir and downloaded the latest release, plus an update cycle. I have only lost my workspaces (no code was lost) once using this method.
Thanks in advance
I usually just rename the old one to something like eclipse3.3 and install the new one in the same place. Since a lot of plugins usually break with a new version anyway, in my experience, I find that to do this and then reinstall my plugins is the easiest solution. There are rarely any problems with the workspace itself.
Starting with Eclipse 3.5, it should be possible to update in-place to new major versions...but only if the update will leave you with a clean/working install.
The key thing you will need for this to work is to add the update site for the new eclipse release. The most comprehensive list of updates I've seen is at http://ekkescorner.wordpress.com/eclipse/update-sites/
I always use the built-in update system. Go to Help -> Software Updates
I use Yoxos on-demand. I've found it a lot easier to upgrade this way. It allows you to pick up the plug-ins you need and then it resolves the dependencies automatically. That way I can quickly build a new Eclipse version that contains all the features that the old one had with less hassle.