Cross-Platform Single-Instance IDE Setup

Question

I like to carry software around with me on a USB flash drive. I also like to work in both Windows and Linux. Finally, I like to develop software using powerful tools.

Bringing these three things together, I want to be able to carry an IDE around with me. My favorite choice is Eclipse.

So, I tried to get an Eclipse install working on a thumb drive. Not surprisingly, it's just fine if I pack in a JDK. But Eclipse without plugins just doesn't do it for me. After installing my plugins of choice, I had a hefty 300ish MBs of data.

Then I realized that I'd only installed for Linux. And that I was going to have to duplicate everything to get a Windows install. That's not good.

I've searched the web. I found a guide on creating .link files which looks like a hack from the early 80s. I found documentation on the new Eclipse p2 provisioning which I couldn't even understand. I checked Pulse, and they don't support Helios yet.

I remember in old Eclipse days you could just install a plugin to an alternate directory, and share that dir across different Eclipse installs. Today, I couldn't manage to find anything of the sort.

I did manage to get Netbeans up and working properly in a cross-platform manner in around 30 minutes. But I prefer Eclipse.

Could anyone give me a hand? What I'm looking for is:

• One install of the platform-independent portions of the Eclipse internals
• One install of each plugin I desire
• The ability to run this unified Eclipse from both Linux and Windows

I know I'll need a JVM for each platform. I know I'll also need an SWT lib and launcher for each OS. That's fine.

Answer 1

You need to have separate Eclipse installations for each platform and a shared plugins directory for both installations. There are many questions on the subject on StackOverflow. For example, see this comprehensive answer.

Start with the standard Eclipse packages. Complete your shared dropins setup. Once you are up and running, you get probably move plugins from each standard installation to the shared dropins directory to save space (for example, JDT).