Extending an existing Eclipse IDE

Depending on the package you are installing, you might be able to extend a compatible Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) already installed on your system by adding the functionality contained in the installation package.

Some packages that you install might have the option to extend – add to the IDE the additional functionality provided in the installation package – an existing Eclipse instance installed on your workstation. If the Extend an existing Eclipse IDE option is enabled on the Location page, then the package or packages that you are installing can be used to extend an existing Eclipse IDE.

You might extend your existing Eclipse IDE, for example, because you want to gain the functionality provided in the installation package, but you also want to preserve the preferences and settings in your current IDE as well as any plug-ins you have installed that already extend the Eclipse IDE.

Your existing Eclipse IDE must be version 3.2 or greater to be extended. Installation Manager checks that the Eclipse instance you specify meets the requirements for the installation package.

When you extend an existing Eclipse IDE, Installation Manager allows the functionality in the installation packages to be used within the existing Eclipse IDE; however, the files that provide the functionality are still installed in the directory of the package group that you selected.

Note: The Eclipse that you choose to extend must have an initialization (.ini) file. If one does not exist, you need to create an .ini file in the same folder as your Eclipse executable (.exe file), with the same name as the Eclipse executable, for example, if your eclipse executable is product.exe, the ini file must be named product.ini.

If you start your executable using certain vmargs, you also need to add those arguments to the ini file. Once you have done added the arguments to the ini file, you no longer need to specify the vmargs on the command line when launching the executable file.

For more information on the Eclipse ini file, see the "Launcher ini file" section at http://help.eclipse.org/help32/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/misc/runtime-options.html


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