Error when Updating/Installing software in Eclipse 3.4.2

Question

I am trying to update installed software and install plugins for a fresh install of eclipse 3.4.2. Whenever I try to update/install I get this error:

"Unexpected error encountered while preparing for the operation. org.eclipse.core.runtime.AssertionFailedException"

Details: "Unexpected error encountered while preparing for the operation. null argument:"

log file entry

org.eclipse.core.runtime.AssertionFailedException: null argument:
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.Assert.isNotNull(Assert.java:86)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.Assert.isNotNull(Assert.java:74)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.provisional.p2.metadata.ProvidedCapability.<init>(ProvidedCapability.java:25)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.provisional.p2.metadata.MetadataFactory.createProvidedCapability(MetadataFactory.java:189)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.metadata.repository.io.MetadataParser$ProvidedCapabilityHandler.<init>(MetadataParser.java:483)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.metadata.repository.io.MetadataParser$ProvidedCapabilitiesHandler.startElement(MetadataParser.java:469)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.persistence.XMLParser$AbstractHandler.startElement(XMLParser.java:171)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.startElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractXMLDocumentParser.emptyElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.scanStartElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDispatcher.dispatch(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.metadata.repository.MetadataRepositoryIO$Parser.parse(MetadataRepositoryIO.java:193)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.metadata.repository.MetadataRepositoryIO.read(MetadataRepositoryIO.java:56)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.provisional.spi.p2.metadata.repository.SimpleMetadataRepositoryFactory.validateAndLoad(SimpleMetadataRepositoryFactory.java:116)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.provisional.spi.p2.metadata.repository.SimpleMetadataRepositoryFactory.load(SimpleMetadataRepositoryFactory.java:85)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.updatesite.metadata.UpdateSiteMetadataRepository.initializeMetadataRepository(UpdateSiteMetadataRepository.java:187)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.updatesite.metadata.UpdateSiteMetadataRepository.<init>(UpdateSiteMetadataRepository.java:67)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.updatesite.metadata.UpdateSiteMetadataRepositoryFactory.load(UpdateSiteMetadataRepositoryFactory.java:48)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.metadata.repository.MetadataRepositoryManager.loadRepository(MetadataRepositoryManager.java:485)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.metadata.repository.MetadataRepositoryManager.loadRepository(MetadataRepositoryManager.java:452)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.metadata.repository.MetadataRepositoryManager.loadRepository(MetadataRepositoryManager.java:435)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.director.SimplePlanner.gatherAvailableInstallableUnits(SimplePlanner.java:196)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.director.SimplePlanner.getProvisioningPlan(SimplePlanner.java:235)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.provisional.p2.ui.operations.ProvisioningUtil.getProvisioningPlan(ProvisioningUtil.java:210)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.provisional.p2.ui.actions.InstallAction.computeProvisioningPlan(InstallAction.java:80)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.provisional.p2.ui.actions.InstallAction.getProvisioningPlan(InstallAction.java:130)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.provisional.p2.ui.actions.ProfileModificationAction$1.run(ProfileModificationAction.java:61)
at org.eclipse.jface.operation.ModalContext$ModalContextThread.run(ModalContext.java:121)

What is causing this problem and how do I fix it?

Answer 1

p2 was barely able to run in 3.4.x (and was still with quite a few bugs like this one in early 3.5).
Any chance you can try with a 3.5.1 eclipse installation?

Answer 2

I fixed my problem by reinstalling eclipse from the archived package. I used the same procedure (to my knowledge) to reinstall as I used the first time, but this time with no errors when trying to update and install features.