Extending an existing Eclipse IDE

You can extend a compatible Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) that is already installed on your system by adding the functionality contained in the package that you are installing.

Some packages that you install might have the option to extend (add to the IDE the additional functionality that is provided in the installation package) an existing Eclipse instance that is installed on your workstation. During the installation, if the Extend an existing Eclipse IDE option is enabled on the Location page, 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 that is 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 that 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 that you specify meets the requirements for the installation package.

Some IBM products include an Eclipse verifier. The Eclipse verifier identifies packages that are incompatible with installed packages. For more information on the Eclipse verifier, see Technote #1433601 How does the Eclipse verifier work?

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

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

If you start your executable file using certain vmargs arguments, you must add those arguments to the .ini file. After you have added the arguments to the .ini file, you do not need to specify the vmargs arguments on the command line when launching the executable file.

For more information about 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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