Installing eclipse 3.3 on Gentoo

Today was the day to get eclipse going on Gentoo. I downloaded the latest version (3.3) and dropped it into /opt/eclipse.

I fired it up and got:

# ./eclipse
* run-java-tool is not available for sun-jdk-1.6 on i686
* IMPORTANT: some Java tools are not available on some VMs on some architectures

so, clearly it did not like my java.

I know my java is good:

# java-config -L
The following VMs are available for generation-2:
1) Blackdown JDK 1.4.2.03 [blackdown-jdk-1.4.2]
2) Sun JDK 1.4.2.13 [sun-jdk-1.4]
3) Sun JDK 1.5.0.10 [sun-jdk-1.5]
*) Sun JDK 1.6.0 [sun-jdk-1.6]


Looking around, I found the following:

Java on Gentoo uses /usr/bin/run-java-tool instead of /usr/bin/java (which links to run-java-tool)

the trick is to edit /usr/bin/run-java-tool

after:

tool=$(basename $0)

add

[[ $tool = “run-java-tool” ]] && tool=”java”

then eclipse started perfectly.

first thoughts about eclipse 3.3

After my first full week of using Eclipse (having moved away from JBuilder) I thought I would list some of my thoughts:

• The visual editor sucks.  Jbuilder 2005/6 and Netbeans have eclipse beat here.  I hope this area improves soon.
• The spell checker finds spelling mistakes, but right clicking the error does not give an “add to dictionary” option.
• Eclipse feels much faster than Jbuilder 2005, and eclipse 3.2.
• It is great to be able to do C++ (CDT) and java in the same IDE.
• Mylyn (formerly Mylar) rocks.  I am able to interact with tasks while developing, a big time saver.  For example, if there is an error in the ide log, you can right click it and add n eclipse bugzilla defect on the fly.

I still need to get Mantis defect tracking set up with Mylyn.

C Programming in Eclipse

In my day to day job, I mainly use java, primarily for the development of graphical interfaces to communicate with custom built hardware running embedded microprocessors (written in assembly and c). In addition though, I also write c and c++ for backend code that needs to run really fast, or needs to do stuff that java has a hard time with.

For example, I am working on a project that uses JNI to integrate a java GUI to a c++ dll, which does some complex data processing for GPS location triangulation. This code is already working in c++ and I don’t want to have top reingineer it in java, as it involves some very ugly math.

I have recently made a switch to eclipse(jbuilder) for java development.

JBuilder Registration Woes…

Because of continuing registration issues, I thought it would be interesting to post my thoughts…

The place I work has a poor internet connection (hundreds of employees share a limited isp connection so download bandwidth is limited and large downloads are frowned upon) so I got Codegear (aka Borland) to send me a JBuilder CD.

When I first installed the app, it installed well, but when I went to register, the licensing application responded that the registraion file I was trying was not valid.

Rambling thoughts about JBuilder 2007…

I recently made the jump to JBuilder 2007. As a long time user of JBuilder (I started using JBuilder back with version 3) I have to start off saying that this version is quite a bit different from any other JBuilder. If you are an Eclipse user you will be quite comfortable with v2007, otherwise there is a hefty learning curve.

At the moment, I am actually having trouble with the registration process, so I have not yet tried out the borland specific features, I am just getting familiar with the Eclipse 3.2 functionality.

One thing I noticed right away is that I find the UI designer a big letdown from the old JBuilder.

I will post more here in a bit when I get further along in the process.