Eclipse doesn't load plugins in the dropins fo

Question

I just downloaded Eclipse SDK 3.5.1 and want to install some add ons such as GEF, EMF, etc.

I downloaded all the zip files for everything I needed and decided to install them in the dropins folder. I read http://wiki.eclipse.org/Equinox_p2_Getting_Started and structured my dropin folder as specified:

eclipse/  
   dropins/  
     emf/  
       eclipse/  
         features/  
         plugins/  
     gef/  
       eclipse/  
         features/  
         plugins/  
     ... etc ...

When I start up Eclipse it does not recognize any of the features or plugins I have put into the structure above. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Don't place the zip files manually like that.

Use the wizard within Eclipse to install a local archive plug-in.

Answer 2

First of all, run eclipse with -clean to ensure p2 fully rescans the dropins directory and sees your plugins.

If it still doesn't load you can use p2 debugging to see what the problem is also. For some strange reason p2 doesn't log dropins issues unless you explicitly turn it on with the following steps:

Create an .options file in the eclipse folder where you start up Eclipse with the following content:

org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core/debug=true
org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core/reconciler=true

Then run eclipse with the following arguments (last argument is the path to the .options file you just created):

eclipse -clean -console -consoleLog -debug /path/to/.options

PS, I have created this bugzilla to request it be turned on as a default. You can vote/track making this logging the default there.

PPS, @kc2001's suggestion is a good one also once you have narrowed down on what plugin has the issue and you want to troubleshoot it more.

Some relevant links:

• http://wiki.eclipse.org/Equinox_p2_Getting_Started
• http://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/m/116635/
• http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21428463

Answer 3

This ended up being an issue with Eclipse for me. Placing the plugin jar in each of the folders suggested, running as admin, etc. didn't work.

What did solve it was downgrading from a Juno package to Indigo. You can find older versions of Eclipse here.

Answer 4

This is probably a bit late to help you, but maybe it will help somebody else. I had a similar problem, so I posted a question to the Eclipse Community Forums asking about how to get a report about missing dependencies. Mickael Istria's helpful reply is shown below for those who aren't members of that forum:

---

You can start or diag the OSGi Console and try to start the bundle manually. The console will print you some warnings. See http://eclipse.org/equinox/documents/quickstart.php for more details.

shell> eclipse -console
 [...Eclipse starts up...] 
osgi> diag your.unresolved.bundle
 [...shows you unresolved constraints...]

---

In my case, I tried several directory structures that I thought should work, before I found one that did:

dropins/
   myPlugin
   plugins/
      depPluginDir1/*
      depPluginDir2/*

Answer 5

I suggest that you try to install those features via the update manager. EMF and GEF are standard features from Eclipse.org, there's no reason not to install them in Eclipse's main p2 repository folder (it is easy to uninstall them, in case that is your concern).

Have a look at the error log view (Window -> Show View -> Error Log) to see why they didn't load. My guess is that they are missing a dependency, but without more information it is difficult to answer your question. I also suggest looking at Help -> About Eclipse -> Installation Details to see what exactly is installed.

Answer 6

Something that has just solved this very same issue for me: start eclipse with the command line parameters -clean -console -consoleLog. The weird thing: with -clean -console, it didn't work. Only after I added -consoleLog, the bundles were recognized.