MacOSX Snow Leopard and Eclipse: Error starting Eclipse (No Java virtual machine…)

Question

This is so frustrating.

I did no update of java nor eclipse and suddenly I can\'t open eclipse. I even didn\'t install any other programs. Here is the error:

Answer 1

You need to create a file ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist and add JAVA_HOME => /Library/Java/Home entry into it. If you have XCode installed, use it to add entry. Otherwise, use plain text editor:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>JAVA_HOME</key>
    <string>/Library/Java/Home</string>
</dict>
</plist>

After that, restart MaxOS or logout/login.

See http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/BPRuntimeConfig/Articles/EnvironmentVars.html for details.

Cheers, Max