Upgrading Eclipse

If you are upgrading to a newer release of Eclipse from an older release, there are simple steps to follow to migrate your workspace to the new release. Your workspace is the directory on disk that contains all of your project files, as well as meta-data such as preferences you may have customized. The steps to follow for upgrading depend on whether or not you used the "-data" command line argument when starting Eclipse. The "-data" argument is recommended because it clearly specifies the location of your workspace. If this argument is not used, Eclipse will place the workspace in the current working directory at the time Eclipse was launched.

Tip: It doesn't hurt to make a backup of your workspace before upgrading. After you've upgraded your workspace, you won't be able to use it again with an older version of Eclipse. If you ever want to go "back in time" to an earlier release, you'll need that backup!

 

Users who don't use "-data"

If you weren't previously using "-data" to specify your workspace, follow these steps to upgrade:

  1. Find the workspace directory used by your old version of Eclipse. Typically this is located inside the eclipse install directory in a sub-directory called "workspace". If you were using a shortcut or script to launch Eclipse, then it will be under the current working directory of that shortcut or script in a sub-directory called "workspace". Windows users, this is specified by the "Start in" argument in your shortcut properties.

  2. Copy this workspace directory into a new, empty location outside of any Eclipse install directory.

  3. Install the new version of Eclipse in a new location, separate from any old version of Eclipse.

  4. Start this new version of Eclipse, using the "-data" command line argument to point to the workspace location.

Example:

Old Eclipse install directory:
   c:\eclipse2_0

New Eclipse install directory:
   c:\eclipse2_1

Workspace location:
   c:\data\EclipseWorkspace

Java VM location:
   c:\jre

Command line to start Eclipse:
   "c:\eclipse2_1 -data c:\data\EclipseWorkspace -vm d:\jre\bin\javaw"

Tip: It's generally a good idea to explicitly specify which Java VM to use when running Eclipse. This is achieved with the "-vm" command line argument as illustrated above. If you don't use "-vm", Eclipse will look on the O/S path. When you install other products, they may change your path, resulting in a different Java VM being used when you next launch Eclipse.

 

Users who do use "-data"

If you were previously using the "-data" argument to start Eclipse, your upgrade path is much easier:

  1. Install the new version of Eclipse in a new location, separate from any old version of Eclipse.

  2. Start this new version of Eclipse, using the "-data" command line argument to point to your old workspace location.
See the example in the previous section for an illustration.

 

Adding third party plug-ins

If you have installed extra plug-ins in your Eclipse environment, you will need to add these new plug-ins to each new build or version of Eclipse you install. Before you do this, refer to the documentation for those plug-ins to ensure they are compatible with the version of Eclipse you are moving to. There are several ways to add these extra plug-ins to your new Eclipse install:

  1. Copy the directories for each plug-in into the "plugins" directory of your new Eclipse version.

  2. Use an Eclipse update site to re-install those extra plug-ins or features in the new version of Eclipse.

  3. If you are using product extensions, simply copy the "links" directory into the new Eclipse version install directory. For more details on product extensions, see the documentation in the Platform Plug-in Developer Guide, under Programmer's Guide > Packaging and delivering Eclipse based products > Product extensions.