Installing and configuring Eclipse

eclipse.ini
Preferences
Plug-ins
References

Last verification: 2020-10-26, macOS version 10.14.6, Eclipse version 2020-09 (4.17.0).

eclipse.ini

Memory size

On macOS, the configuration file

 ../Eclipse.app/Contents/MacOS/eclipse.ini

or for Eclipse 4.5 and later:

 ../Eclipse.app/Contents/Eclipse/eclipse.ini

has

-startup
../../../plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.101.R34x_v20080819.jar
--launcher.library
../../../plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.carbon.macosx_1.0.101.R34x_v20080731
-showsplash
org.eclipse.platform
-vmargs
-Xdock:icon=../Resources/Eclipse.icns
-XstartOnFirstThread
-Xms1024m
-Xmx1536m
-XX:PermSize=256M
-XX:MaxPermSize=512M
-XX:+UseParallelGC
-Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts

Xms and Xmx are the starting and maximum heap size for JVM running Eclipse, respectively. Heap stores objects, so anything that create large number of objects will require large value for Xmx
PermSize and MaxPermSize are for memory storing classes (data structures, not object instances) so they normally don't need to be large[¹].
-Xss2m sets the Java stack size to 2MB; If it requires very deep level of recursion and can have large inputs, a stack size too small may cause java.lang.StackOverflowError
-XX:+UseParallelGC enables the parallel garbage collector[²].

`-Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts`

On high-resolution displays, removing

-Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts

is said to make the font size larger for some GUI elements. But I couldn't notice any difference.

References:

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/24621/how-do-increase-font-size-of-eclipse-globally

Preferences

Note preferences are workspace specific and you can export, save, and import preferences metadata using menu File ⟶ Export ⟶ Preferences [³].

Preferences ⟶ General ⟶ Compare/Patch ⟶ enable "Ignore white space"
Preferences ⟶ General ⟶ Keys ⟶ Scheme:Emacs
Preferences ⟶ General ⟶ Network Connections
- ⟶ SSH2: add private keys
Preferences ⟶ General ⟶ Editors
- Check "Allow in-place system editors".
- Size of recently opened files list: 20 (the maximum)
- ⟶ Text Editors:
  - Uncheck "Enable spell checking" to help speeding up text editor.
  - Check "Show print margin".
  - Check "Insert spaces for tabs".
  - Check "Show whitespace characters".
- ⟶ AnyEdit Tools:
  - Convert: Tab width/number of spaces for tab: 4
Preferences ⟶ General ⟶ Appearance
- ⟶ Theme: Dark
- If the "Darkest Dark Theme with DevStyle" plug-in is installed
  - ⟶ Theme: DevStyle Theme
  - ⟶ DevStyle ⟶ Color Themes
    - Workbench theme: Dark Gray (Darkest Dark)
    - Icon colors: Pastels
    - Editor theme: Solarized Dark
    - check "Theme background"
    - check "Enable breadcrumb"
- ⟶ Colors and Fonts ⟶
- ⟶ Basic ⟶ Text Font: Source Code Pro 18
  - ⟶ CVS
    - Outgoing Change (Background): dark green
    - Outgoing Change (Foreground): white
    - Ignored Resource (Background): dark gray
    - Ignored Resource (Foreground): light gray
  - ⟶ Git
    - Uncommitted Change (Background): dark green
    - Uncommitted Change (Foreground): white
    - Ignored Resource (Background): dark gray
    - Ignored Resource (Foreground): light gray
Preferences ⟶ Team ⟶ CVS
- ⟶ Console: Check "Show CVS console automatically when command is run"
- ⟶ Ext Connection: let CVS modules use ext connection method to use Eclipse's extssh connection method. Reference: Eclipse (version 4) documentation Workbench User Guide > Reference > Preferences: CVS Ext Connection Method
  - Check "Use another connection method type to connect";
  - For Connection type, select 'extssh'.
Preferences ⟶ Java ⟶ Editor
- ⟶ Content Assistant: Change "Auto Activation Delay" to 500 ms.

Preferences ⟶ Wolfram (with Wolfram Workbench plugin)

⟶ Editor
- ⟶ Advanced: Editor update delay (ms). I use 1500 ms.
- ⟶ Indenting: Indent with spaces
⟶ Wolfram Cloud
- User name: (email address)

Plug-ins

(If not specifically mentioned, in reasonably modern version of Eclipse, install plug-ins using the menu Help > Eclipse Marketplace.)

UI

DevStyle
- As of Eclipse 4.7, one can install it from Help > Eclipse Marketplace. I use the "Darkest Dark" color theme by setting Preferences ⟶ General ⟶ Appearance ⟶ Theme: DevStyle Theme (Darkest Dark).
- 4.4+: Use Preferences ⟶ General ⟶ Appearance ⟶ Theme: Dark
- Pre-4.4:
  - Jeeeyul's Eclipse Themes, customize UI elements such as window color.
  - Eclipse Color Theme Customize editor styles such as font, background color, etc.

Java

CheckStyle
- As of Eclipse 2020-09, one can install it from Help > Eclipse Marketplace. The name of the plug-in as of Eclipse 2020-09 is "Checkstyle Plug-in 8.35.0".
- As of Eclipse 4.6, one can install it from Help > Eclipse Marketplace. The name of the plug-in as of Eclipse 4.8.0 (Aug., 2018) is "Checkstyle Plug-in 8.12.0".
- Eclipse plug-in site: http://eclipse-cs.sourceforge.net/
- Plug-in repository URL: http://eclipse-cs.sf.net/update/
- Available checks: http://checkstyle.sourceforge.net/availablechecks.html
- Robert Sedgewick's check-style configuration file used for his algorithms course.
- I usually set it to use "Google Checks" in Window > Preferences > CheckStyle > Global Checks Configuration.
FindBugs/SpotBugs
- As of Eclipse version 2018-09 (4.9.0) and Sept. 2018, according to https://github.com/spotbugs/spotbugs, FindBugs has been succeeded by SpotBugs, and install the SpotBugs plug-in from Help > EclipseMarketplace.
- As of Eclipse 4.4, one can install it from Help > Eclipse Marketplace.
- Plug-in repository URL: http://findbugs.cs.umd.edu/eclipse or http://findbugs.cs.umd.edu/eclipse-candidate if the former does not work.
- Robert Sedgewick's FindBugs configuration file used for his algorithms course.
Eclipse Code Recommenders
- As of 2020-10 and Eclipse 2020-09, it reports "repository not available" error when attempting to install it.
- Install it from Help > Eclipse Marketplace.
ObjectAid UML Explorer
- Plug-in repository URL: http://www.objectaid.com/update/current

Uqbar Tomcat XT Eclipse Plug-in

For launch and administer Tomcat's contexts.

As of Eclipse 4.4, one can install it from Help > Eclipse Marketplace.

Scala

Scala IDE.
As of Eclipse 4.4, one can install it from Help > Eclipse Marketplace.
Plug-in repository URL: http://scala-ide.org/download/current.html.

Mathematica

Wolfram Workbench
- As of 2018-10 and Eclipse version 2018-09 (4.9.0), install it manually following the instruction at https://web.archive.org/web/20180108074322/http://support.wolfram.com/kb/27221.
- As of 2017-10, install it from Help > Elcipse Marketplace: http://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/wolfram-workbench-2).

Version control

CVS Integration
- As of at least Eclipse version 2018-09 (4.9.0), to install CVS client,
  1. Help > Install New Software...
  2. Set 'Work with: --All Available Sites--'.
  3. Type filter text 'CVS'.
  4. Install 'Eclipse CVS Client'.
- Since Eclipse 4.5, it is no longer included in Eclipse by default. One can install it by going to the menu Help > Eclipse Marketplace and searching by keyword "CVS Integration"
EGit
- Since Eclipse 4.4, it is included in Eclipse as the built-in Git support.

I don't use Mercurial and SVN any more as of Eclipse 4:

Editing

AnyEdit
- As of Eclipse 4.4, one can install it from Help > Eclispe Marketplace.
- Plug-in repository URL: http://andrei.gmxhome.de/eclipse/.

Programming languages

JSON editor
- As of at least Eclipse 4.7.0 and 2017-8, one can install it from Help > Eclispe Marketplace.
Papyrus: UML modeling support

Misc

Eclipse Mylyn
- Plug-in repository URL: http://download.eclipse.org/mylyn/releases/latest.
- FAQ.
Eclipse Graphical Editing Framework
- Plug-in repository URL: http://download.eclipse.org/tools/gef/updates/releases
OS X Eclipse Launcher
- As of at least Eclipse version 2019-06 (4.12.0) and 2019-6, one can install it from Help > Eclispe Marketplace.
Workspace Badge Plug-in for macOS.
- As of at least Eclipse version 2019-06 (4.12.0) and 2019-6, this is superseded by the OS X Eclipse Launcher plug-in.

References

Eclipse Wiki: FAQ How do I increase the heap size available to Eclipse?