How can I clone all of my Eclipse settings (preferences, plugins, etc) from one computer to another?
IIRC, Eclipse installs into a folder as opposed to all over the place like most Windows apps. Have you tried just copying the entire folder?
They are stored in the .metadata directory in your designated workspace directory. So you can copy that over, although some settings may not work right away as they contain absolute paths.
If you are referring to the plugins themselves, just copy the eclipse_dir/plugins folder
Eclipse has an import/export facility for general workspace Preferences:
File > Export > Preferences
Choose "Export All" and then provide a destination path and filename for your preference file (Eclipse will automatically add a .epf extension).
In a new (or existing) installation of Eclipse import the .epf file
File > Import > Preferences
Project specific settings, if you enabled (and configured these), are stored in the subfolders .classpath, .project and .settings inside the project folder. Assuming you preserve your project folders for use by the new Eclipse installation, your project-specific settings will remain safe.
Eclipse projects are also imported/exported via Eclipse file menu:
File > Import > File System
see this post regarding the way Eclipse uses the workspace .metadata directory
Related
I am using Eclipse Indigo, and after having successfully extracted my project folder into my Eclipse workspace, it does not show up in the package explorer. I tried refreshing eclipse and restarting it, to no avail. I am 100% certain my eclipse is using the right directory and the project is in it.
What could be the problem? Thank you.
EDIT: "import projects into workspace" worked for me, but why was that necessary?
Files in the directory are not automatically picked up by the package explorer. You need to import them.
Try using the File > import, then choose
Existing Projects into workspace.
There is a checkbox that says "Copy projects into workspace" which copies it to your workspace if it happens to be in a different folder. If you start with your files in another folder, you'll see how it's copied and set up with configuration files in your workspace directory.
To answer the question, "why is it necessary to import?" you have to realize that the Eclipse workspace is just a logical container for projects, not necessarily the physical container for them.
Also realize that a directory of project-related files does not make an Eclipse Project; Eclipse must be given or generate it's own set of configuration in order to understand a project (minimally, for Java projects, .project and .classpath). Without those, Eclipse has no idea what to do with an arbitrary folder that you call a "project." That's what the Import or Create Project wizards are doing under the covers, generating those config files.
I'm trying to organise the directory structure of my projects' source code and the eclipse workspace etc.
I found a folder called runtime-EclipseApplication in a high level folder outside the directories where I keep my workspace and projects.
What is this folder, when/why is it created and is it safe to delete?
This is the default for the workspace name when you use Run As > Eclipse Application.
You can look in the Eclipse Applications section of the Run > Run Configurations dialog to see what (if anything) is using this workspace. The workspace name is shown in the Location field of the Main tab.
Should renaming a project in Eclipse also rename project folder on file system ?
My project file system name remains the same even when I rename the file on Eclipse.
Should I manually rename the project on the file system to same on Eclipse ?
It appears that renaming a project will only rename the underlying filesystem directory if the project was created with the "Use Default Location" checkbox selected (meaning the project is created in the workspace directory). If you create a project and specify a custom location outside the workspace, renaming that project in Eclipse does not rename the project's host directory. In that case, you'll probably want to:
Rename the project in Eclipse (which will update any internal references and the .project file)
Remove the project from your Eclipse Workbench view (making sure that the "Delete file contents" option is NOT selected in the delete confirmation dialog).
Rename the project's directory in your filesystem.
Import the project back into your Eclipse workspace.
I was surprised to learn this (I tested it with Eclipse 3.7), but it seems to be logical to me. The idea is that projects in the workspace folder are considered to be "under Eclipse control" as opposed to projects that are located in arbitrary places on your filesystem.
Use Refactor to rename the project name. It will rename the file/folder in filesystem as well.
Menu -> Refactor -> Move... (Shift + Alt + V).
In this window you can change name of the folder name and also change the path completely.
If the folder name is important, then change it manually. Keep in mind that you will have to re-open or re-import the the project into eclipse. After you rename the folder, Eclipse won't know where to find it.
In Eclipse Oxygen (4.7) the Move option is greyed and renaming the project does not rename the directory. However, if you switch to the Navigator view (may need to find it under Window > Show View > Navigator) the Move option will be available and it will rename the project's directory.
This is a lot faster than having to recreate the project or re-import it.
If your project is a Maven project to rename, do steps as followed:
Open Context Menu on your project > Refactor > Rename Maven Artifact.
Change Group or ID.
Check "Rename Eclipse project in Workspace".
press OK button.
Update maven project by Context Menu > Maven > Update Project.
Using eclipse Neon 4.6.3, renaming does not work. You will have to do what E-Ritz said in his answer.
It is also worth mentioning that if you are importing a project as a Maven project (via Import... -> Existing Maven Projects), the project name will be taken from the pom.xml rather than the folder. So you should also change the <name>my-project-name</name> part of the pom
There is no option in the file menu to rename a workspace. Is the recommended practice to close eclipse, rename the folder, and re-open? I worry about some potential dangling references in configuration files corrupting my workspace/projects...
Thanks!
Source : Renaming a workspace?
Yes, you can just rename the workspace
directory and/or move it. However, you
then have to tell Eclipse where the
new workspace is. In 3.1, you can use
'switch workspace' to launch in a
different location (under the File
menu).
If you want to change it by hand, you
can edit the appropriate entries in
the files in the 'configuration'
directory where Eclipse is stored.
You can change the
org.eclipse.ui.ide.prefs file to set
SHOW_WORKSPACE_SELECTION_DIALOG=true
if you want to be asked each time
Eclipse is run where the workspace is.
For simple renaming, it is not necessary to switch workspaces, unless the workspace you want to rename is not the one currently active.
Anyway, you can rename the current open workspace by choosing Eclipse->Preferences->General->Workspace and changing the option "Workspace name (shown in window title)" from the default's workspace folder name to whatever you want to call it. Then, restart Eclipse.
Suppose your workspace's folder is "/foo/bar/workspace" and you never changed its name before; its name was then the default "workspace". After you renamed it to, say, "my_workspace" and restarted Eclipse, the Eclipse's window title should show: "my_workspace - (some stuff that varies) - /foo/bar/workspace".
Note that this is NOT going to modify the workspace folder's name. You may have to create a new folder with the desired name, switch to that folder (whose workspace will have the same name, by default) and import existing projects into it, as some have suggested here.
Renaming Workspace folder worked for me. Close the eclipse, rename the workspace folder name, launch eclipse again. If you are using any project dependencies like user libraries,launchers etc, you have to relocate those to new location manually, from project build path.
Copying workspace to a new folder works. Any reference Eclipse itself needs is resolved using the relative workspace location. If you have added launchers, substitution variables, etc. that rely on the absolute workspace location, they will need to be reset.
John,
I think in the original workspace you imported projects and that the projects depend on links not on being physically in the same location of the worspace (even thay are there already but the dependency is on links). If so you have to remove the projects from the new (copied) worspace and then re-import them again.
I just did a:
File --> Import --> Maven --> Existing Maven Projects --> mention the new workspace location in "Root Directory" in the "Import Maven Projects" window
and it worked! All projects were imported properly.
BTW, I have Eclipse-Maven plugin "m2e" installed (http://wiki.eclipse.org/M2E_updatesite_and_gittags)
2021 Update
In Eclipse 2020-12 (Windows 10), the "Workspace name (shown in window title)" preference mentioned in one answer is no longer there. Now, renaming a workspace (WS) requires a copy and delete operation.
Start by switch to another WS: File --> Switch Workspace --> select existing WS. Then rename the WS folder to desired new name. Switch to the new workspace folder and delete the old name:
File --> Switch Workspace --> Other...
Right-click old WS name --> Remove from launcher selection
Click Browse --> select new workspace folder --> click Launch and Voila!
As mentioned in prior posts, depending on your setup some resource links may be broken. Delete the project without(!) removing it from disk, then import to new WS.
Having a bit of a problem,
Due to the source-control set-up we use, each bug/enhancement is worked on in a new branch. This is fine, but when in Eclipse, we need to set-up a new project for every branch.
Is there any way of easily setting up default preferences for a project, or importing/exporting project preferences within Eclipse?
Thanks,
Stuart
One possible solution would be to store those common preferences at the workspace level for Eclipse (see Manage your Eclipse environment article)
The downside of having multiple workspaces is the need to share development preferences among them.
Since preferences are persisted on a workspace basis within Eclipse, you have to export your workspace preferences and import them to your desired workspaces (File > Export > Preferences).
Even if you stay in the same workspace (with several projects), you can share common settings with other developers by exporting those workspace preferences.
As mentioned by Fabian, the project specific settings are in .classpath and .project, but he left out .settings:
.settings are for IDE project-specific settings like compiler warnings and so on.
It you want to share project-specific IDE-related settings, just copy the .settings directory from project directory to project directory.
Tips: copy your project launcher (created by default in <workspace>\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.debug.core\.launches) into your .settings directory: that way, you will also share your custom project launchers.
The above methods might work in some settings but do not address the problem of exporting a single project from your workspace including its properties for use by another person.
One way of doing this is to export the project folder as a zip archive as described above but also save the following file from your workspace:
.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.core.resources/.projects/MYPROJECT/.indexes/properties.index
where MYPROJECT is your project name.
If you then import the project as a new project in a different workspace you can afterwards
copy this file into your new workspace metadata and you will have the original project properties.
The project-specific settings (contrary to the already mentioned workspace-specific settings) are stored in two hidden files in the project: .classpath and .project, which you might be able to reuse to setup your projects.
Have a look at Workspace Mechanic