Installation
PDT Installation Instruction

Introduction

Below are complete instructions for installing the PDT. If you are already familiar with Eclipse plugins, you might want to follow the abbreviated requirements and instructions on the download page. Otherwise, follow along below for detailed steps for installing the PDT.

Installation Methods

PDT can be installed in various ways, depeneding on the configuration you have installed already, and depending on your familiarity with Eclipse.
  • All in One - The easiest way to install PDT, specially if you don't have any previous installation of Eclipse. Simply download the all-in-one package, unzip it to the desired location, and run the executable Eclipse file located in it. This installation includes all you need to have as part of the package, including Eclipse Platform, WTP (Web Tools Project) and more.
  • PDT Feature - This installation method is recommended if you have a previous installation of Eclipse. For this installation to work you need to have the different dependencies required for PDT. In general, PDT is based on WTP (Web Tools Project) and once it's already installed (with the correct version), there isn't much you need install besides that. For the complete list of dependencies, refer to the download page. Once you've downloaded the PDT feature, you need to extract it's plugins and features directories to the existing folders of the already installed Eclipse. If you have Eclipse running already, you will have to restart it to have PDT as part of your Eclipse. Due to cahce issues, it's best to start Eclipse for the first time with a clean environment by executing Eclipse -clean.
  • Update Manager - The update manager installation is done via the update manager of the already installed Eclipse.
    Go to Help Software Updates Find and Install. Choose the "Search For New Feature to Install" and add a new site with the following link "http://download.eclipse.org/tools/pdt/updates/" and press Next to start the update process.
    For additional installation community resources, please go to Additional Resources section below.

Build Types

There are several types of builds used in the PDT project. The builds are differentiated on the degree of their stability
  • Released Builds - the right builds for people who want to be on a stable, tested release, and don't need the latest greatest features and improvements
  • Stable Builds - Integration builds that have been found to be stable enough for most people to use
  • Integration Builds - Integration builds are produced every few day from latest development tags
  • Nightly Builds - Nightly builds are produced every night from whatever has been released into the HEAD stream of the CVS repository

Read more about Build Types here

Debugger

The PDT project does not contain server side implementation for PHP debugging and will welcome any open source or commercial implementation of the debug protocol (The debug protocol implemented can be found at http://www.eclipse.org/pdt/docs.php)

PHP Executable Debugger
  • Zend Executable Debugger - A free Eclipse plugin that adds PHP executable debug capabilities to the Eclipse environment.
PHP Web Server Debugger

Common Problems

Some problems are due to cached information within Eclipse. Eclipse caches information about plugins for faster startup. Adding PDT runtime package may result in stale cached information. Symptoms of this problem include:
  • The PDT perspective does not appear in Eclipse
  • You receive "An error occurred" dialogs when opening PHP Views or the PHP Editor

The solution is to clean up the cached information. The recommended practice is to start Eclipse with the Eclipse -clean

Additional Resources

http://wiki.eclipse.org/IRC_FAQ#How_do_I_install_a_project_with_multiple_dependencies.3F