An IDE is a perfect suite for any programmer/developer to monitor and do his everyday works. IDE integrates all the essential tools for programming, debugging, profiling etc. that eases the work a lot and makes everything happen faster. Among all the IDE, Eclipse is one of the best and most powerful ones.
The latest version of Eclipse IDE is called Eclipse Oxygen. In order to install Eclipse on Linux, it’s a bit of a work. Don’t worry; it’s very easy with the step-by-step guide provided below. Take a note that I’m going to install “Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers”. You can use any other version of Eclipse according to your need. Just make sure to change the file name in the commands.
1. Download the package
Eclipse Oxygen IDE is an open-source and free to download software. Get your favorite Eclipse Oxygen IDE edition. Here, I’ve downloaded the Java EE edition (eclipse-jee-oxygen-2-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz).
Download the TAR.GZ file and place it into a suitable folder.
2. Install Eclipse Oxygen
Now, we’ll be installing Eclipse IDE. Note that the process will install Eclipse in “/opt” directory. Then, you have to create a symlink into “/usr/local/bin/” directory for the IDE’s executable files and verify symbolic path via “ls” command.
- Start a terminal.
- Navigate to the folder where you put “eclipse-jee-oxygen-2-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz”.
- Run these commands:
$ sudo tar xfz eclipse-jee-oxygen-2-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz -C /opt/ $ ls /opt/eclipse/ $ sudo ln -s /opt/eclipse/eclipse /usr/local/bin/eclipse $ ls -al /usr/local/bin/eclipse
It’s time now to create a desktop launcher for Eclipse in the system applications directory. Run this command:
$ sudo nano /usr/share/applications/eclipse-oxygen.desktop
Go to the folder, open the “eclipse-oxygen.desktop” and enter the following codes:
[Desktop Entry] Name=Eclipse Oxygen Comment=Eclipse Oxygen IDE Type=Application Encoding=UTF-8 Exec=/usr/local/bin/eclipse Icon=/opt/eclipse/icon.xpm Categories=GNOME;Application;Development; Terminal=false StartupNotify=true
3. Start Eclipse
Installation is complete. Now, it’s time to start using Eclipse. From the GNOME dash, search for Eclipse and launch.
At the first start, you’ll have to define the workspace path where Eclipse will store all the works. You can also choose the default path “/home/<username>/eclipse-workspace”.
Click “Launch”.
Done! Eclipse Oxygen IDE is installed on your system. There’s also another method of installing Eclipse Oxygen IDE in Linux. Follow this video tutorial.
Looking for other IDEs? Check out our top 10 IDE of 2018.
