How to install Eclipse IDE for Java in Ubuntu

By | July 19, 2016

This guide will show you how to install Eclipse IDE in Ubuntu environment. It’s written specifically for Java edition of eclipse, but this can be used with any other distribution of Eclipse as well.

Step-1: Check Java Installation

First of all, check whether java is installed on your system. You can check this by using below command on ubuntu shell

java -version

If java is not installed, then you can install it by using below command.

sudo apt-get install default-jre

Step-2: Download Eclipse IDE

After installing java, download Eclipse binary from the download section of the official website. See link below.

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/eclipse-packages/

For ubuntu, make sure to download Linux version. Choose “Eclipse IDE for Java Developers” package. Package may have name in below format.

eclipse-java-neon-R-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz

After you downloading correct package, extract it using below command. Change file name as needed.

tar -zxvf eclipse.XX.YY.tar.gz

Copy extracted folder to /opt directory.

sudo cp -r eclipse.XX.YY /opt

Create a desktop file in the location /usr/share/applications and install it:

sudo nano /usr/share/applications/eclipse.desktop

Copy following to the eclipse.desktop file.

[Desktop Entry]
 Name=Eclipse 
 Type=Application 
 Exec=eclipse 
 Terminal=false 
 Icon=eclipse 
 Comment=Integrated Development Environment 
 NoDisplay=false 
 Categories=Development;IDE; 
 Name[en]=Eclipse 

Give desktop file permission to be executed, run:

sudo chmod +x leafpad /usr/share/applications/eclipse.desktop

Run following command to automatically install it in the unity:

sudo desktop-file-install leafpad /usr/share/applications/eclipse.desktop

Create a symlink in /usr/local/bin using

cd /usr/local/bin
ln -s /opt/eclipse/eclipse

For an eclipse icon to be displayed in dash, eclipse icon can be added as

cp /opt/eclipse/icon.xpm /usr/share/pixmaps/eclipse.xpm

After this you should see Eclipse in Menu.

On clicking this icon you should be able to open Eclipse IDE

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