Java project: should .classpath .project file be committed into repository?

Question

I am a newbie using Eclipse to develop Java program, and here is my question: should I check in my .project and .classpath file?

My friend told me that I should only check in .java files and the build.xml to guarantee portability. He said ".classpath will cause you much less portability on different environment. .project is entirely your local eclipse setting"

I agree with him, but partially.

-- Not checking in .project file will make my development less efficient (I can't simply "import" a project code from a directory)

-- Not checking in .classpath file seems OK to me (?) if my build.xml is written carefully.

Anyone wants to share their experience here? thanks

Sean

Answer 1

There is nothing wrong with checking in .project and .classpath. I would do so, if your build.xml isn't able to create both of the files for you. As you said, it's uncomfortable to miss these files when you try to create a new eclipse workspace.

Before you check in .classpath you should be sure that there is no absolute path in it. Convert it into a relative one with a text editor.

Edit: Or even better, use eclipse classpath variables in your otherwise absolute pathes, like @taylor-leese commented.

Answer 2

One thing I would caution against with checking in .classpath file is make sure you don't reference files outside of your project. Eclipse stores the location of these files with a full filepath, and you would need to make sure other developers had those files in exactly the same place.

Answer 3

Not checking in .project file will make my development less efficient (I can't simply "import" a project code from a directory)

for this issue, you can choose to create new project and import existing source.

one issue with IDE specific files like .project is that other Developers may want to use another IDE do develop the project, so they may add another type of project files. this will make your repo messy.

Answer 4

There is not problem of checking in .classpath and .project files into repository. It will help developers which use Eclipse to get going faster.

Warning: Make sure your .classpath file is referencing only artifacts which either checked into the repository with the project or can be obtained automatically (such as maven artifacts).

Answer 5

I would prefer to checkin .project and .classpath.

This would be helpful when this project is being shared by multiple developers. It becomes easy and faster to setup development env. by simply importing this as existing project on any system using eclipse.

Only caution needs to be taken here is classpath's are relative to project.

Answer 6

I don't really know eclipse preferences files, but with IntelliJ, those files are OS agnostics, which means that it won't ruin your portability. Unless you define libraries with a full path to your system (That would be pretty dangerous/stupid).

When you share preferences, you're sure that everyone will work with the same conditions on the project (plugins configuration, encoding, profiles [for intelliJ]) which can really be a good thing.

It doesn't bother me when some Eclipse files are here, and I think it shouldn't/doesn't really bother other developers when some hidden files just lay there.

Answer 7

We check in .project and .classpath. With ProjectSet's this allows us to check out complex workspaces with a single "Import Team ProjectSet"

Answer 8

The key question with all such files is "Can they be reproduced automatically?" If not, check them into source control.

In this case, I'd say "yes," unless you're using maven, which has m2eclipse and the eclipse plugin to generate them for you.