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Odd install location [message #1814378]

Tue, 10 September 2019 09:26

Eclipse User

Running the Eclipse Installer by Oomph for Eclipse Modeling Tools results in Oomph offering to install Java 1.8+ VM in C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-12.0.1 (Current) as the default install folder. This makes sense.

It also offers to install Eclipse in C:\Users\[username]\eclipse\modeling-2019-062 as the default install folder. This makes less sense. Why is Eclipse not installed in C:\Program Files as most software is? I'm running W10 V1803 .

Thanks!

Re: Odd install location [message #1814385 is a reply to message #1814378]

Tue, 10 September 2019 13:01

Eclipse User

Generally Eclipse is self updating and it changes the structure underneath the installation folder (if you do updates and to store configuration-scoped preferences) which it can only do if those things are all read/write for the user. It is possible to create a shared-readonly installation, but even in that case, Eclipse will create a "surrogate" installation folder in <user-home>/.eclipse/<some-cryptiic-id> and if you do updates or install additional features, it will create additional structure there in your home folder. So installing into C:\Program Files is generally not going to work unless you take special steps. That's of course why you can run the installer without admin access (and why the installer doesn't mess with your system registry).

Re: Odd install location [message #1814393 is a reply to message #1814385]

Tue, 10 September 2019 16:13

Eclipse User

Aha. Got it. Many thanks!

Re: Odd install location [message #1814419 is a reply to message #1814393]

Wed, 11 September 2019 04:21

Eclipse User

Ok. Now a related problem. It turns out that Eclipse was already installed on my machine. In fact I installed it myself a while back. But when I didn't see it in Settings|Apps & features, I thought I must have uninstalled it at some point. Of course, as you've noted, that's not how Eclipse works. So, now that I've installed Eclipse anew, without deleting the prior version, what should I do?

Re: Odd install location [message #1814438 is a reply to message #1814419]

Wed, 11 September 2019 08:58

Eclipse User

Each installation is independent so you can delete either one at any time; i.e., it's safe to delete the old one if you no longer want to use it again.

If you've installed using the installer, the installation's (by default) use a shared bundle pool, so the installation folder is actually very tiny and all the feature/plug-in jars are in the pool. You can use the installer's menu to see where your pool is located (<home>/.p2/pool by default) and you can garbage collect it, i.e., to remove things from the pool that are no longer used by any installation on your machine.

Re: Odd install location [message #1814463 is a reply to message #1814438]

Wed, 11 September 2019 14:23

Eclipse User

Deleted these folders: .eclipse, eclipse and ,p2 in C:\Users\[username] and .gradle which seems to have also been installed for some reason. Reran the Oomph installer. Now have .eclipse, eclipse and .p2 back, and Eclipse seems to run fine. Not that I am sure of that, since I'm quite the newb on this. But so far, so fine.

How can I tell what things in .p2 aren't used anymore? I'd love to get rid of any junk that it contains.

Re: Odd install location [message #1814472 is a reply to message #1814463]

Wed, 11 September 2019 23:50

Eclipse User

Don't make a habit of deleting all these things. E.g., deleting the .p2 folder will destroy all installations that are using it.

The menu (upper right corner) on the installer has Bundle Pools... that you can use to manage the pool, including "Cleanup Agent". Also in the IDE under Window -> Preferences -> Oomph -> Bundle Pools there is access to the same dialog.

Re: Odd install location [message #1814495 is a reply to message #1814472]

Thu, 12 September 2019 04:19

Eclipse User

I didn't like to delete them in the first place, frankly, but I thought that all things considered it was the safest way to go. Now that I know how Eclipse works, I'll avoid that in the future.

Re cleanup, I tried the IDE method that you identified, and it worked great. Apparently I have nothing to clean up, which is super. But re the Oomph installer, your post reminded me of something. In an instructional doc from some university that uses Eclipse (read after the new install unfortunately), it said that when installing Eclipse using Oomph if the Oomph hamburger shows a dot that dot indicates that the installer needs updating. I did not do this. Will this cause a problem? If so, how should I correct it?

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