Getting a lightweight installation of Java Eclipse

Question

Having dealt with yet another stupid eclipse problem, I want to try to get the lightest, most minimal Eclipse installation as possible.

To be clear, I use eclipse for tw

Answer 1

I feel you man, when working with Eclipse, the application is constantly trying to help. Ignoring workspace corruptions, I spend my development time fighting all the "helpful" things Eclipse does. XML is not that hard to read, but it still confuses the shit out of me when I get the XML designer. All it does for me is add an extra manual step to click on the source tab. Every time a new version of eclipse comes out they redesign the front page and the distributions. At which time a new quest starts for finding a way to debloat Eclipse again. I have the same experience with extensions to Eclipse by third parties and avoid them if at all possible. WTP has somewhat usefull stuff, but overall I prefer a basic java eclipse.

It is a good idea start with the Platform Runtime Binary and add JDT. Manually extracting the JDT runtime doesn't seem to work for me these days, so it it better to use the update client. You can use the marketplace client, but personally I have always found it rather annoying. An alternative is to use the director. The director can install JDT without starting the GUI.

Here is a script that downloads eclipse Oxygen 4.7.3a and installs JDT unnattended:

#!/bin/sh

die() {
    echo >&2 "$@"
    exit 1
}

[ "$#" -eq 1 ] || die "exactly 1 argument required [INSTALL_DIR]"
[ -e "$1" ] && die "*warning* Aborting! location exists, eclipse already installed?"

INSTALL_DIR="$1"
TARBALL=eclipse-platform-4.7.3a-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz

mkdir -p $INSTALL_DIR
if [ ! -f $TARBALL ]
then
    wget http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/eclipse/eclipse/downloads/drops4/R-4.7.3a-201803300640/$TARBALL
fi
tar -v -xf "$TARBALL" -C "$INSTALL_DIR" --strip 1

echo "\nUsing director to install java development tools, this may take a while..."
$INSTALL_DIR/eclipse -noSplash -application org.eclipse.equinox.p2.director -repository http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/updates/4.7 -installIUs org.eclipse.jdt.feature.group

Simply call the script with one argument, the directory you want Eclipse installed. Running the script gives me an unpacked install of roughly 129MB, which is more than 100MB smaller than the default download (zipped). That is not to say you would not be able to shrink it further, but it should rid you of most of the crap. The executable will be cached for future executions of the script, but it will still be slow, since it needs to go online to download JDT. Unfortunately, I do not know of a way to cache the plugin download in a local folder. You could of course zip the created installation, but the script is easier to commit to git.

This script will only work for new users as long as the mirror stays up and will need some updates when a new version is released. But I am sure most developers are savvy enough to update the script if need be.