"eclipse" package needed for /usr/bin/eclipse, lots of deps

[Ben Maurer]

The "eclipse" package is needed to get /usr/bin/eclipse. However, this requires the PDE and eclipse source. Eclipse source, as an example, requires 30 mb of disk space.

[hackel (hackel)]

Please up the priority on this bug, we need a fix!

It's a very simple change! I went and fixed it myself but I would like to see it changed upstream so I don't have to mess with it after every upgrade. Simply change the Depends to eclipse-platform instead of eclipse-jde, eclipse-pde, and eclipse-source.

I don't do any java development, which precludes writing any plugins for eclipse, and I have no need to access the source code. I imagine this is true for most users of eclipse, aside from java developers who only need ONE of those three packages!

I thought I already filed a bug report on this issue for Breezy, though I can't find it now. I can't believe it still exists when the fix is so simple...

[Jerome Haltom (wasabi)]

Is the /usr/bin/eclipse binary usable without any of the three? Shipping an unusable binary isn't very helpful.

[jojo4u (bugzilla-freedom-x)]

Yes, eclipse is unnecessary bloated in Ubuntu. As a temporary fix, you can download the package from eclipse.org (other downloads): They need no compiliation or configuring, just one directory. For Java development you should need platform and JDT (untested), for C++ development you need platform and CDT (tested).

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package eclipse - 3.2.2-5ubuntu1

---------------
eclipse (3.2.2-5ubuntu1) hardy; urgency=low

  [ Flávio Martins ]
  * Merge from Debian unstable. Remaining Ubuntu changes:
    - Change maintainer to MOTU in debian/control.in and debian/control
    - Regenerated debian/control for Ubuntu.
  * Build-depend on libxul-dev instead of firefox-dev. Closes LP: #191586
  * Closes LP: #183137 LP: #67858

  [ Emilio Pozuelo Monfort ]
  * debian/control{.in}:
    - Move eclipse-source from eclipse's Depends to Suggests. LP: #67862
  * Commented out icedtea in debian/extra/java_home, since it doesn't work
    and makes eclipse not start if the user has icedtea installed.

 -- Emilio Pozuelo Monfort <email address hidden> Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:40:56 +0100

[hackel (hackel)]

This was never fixed. /usr/bin/eclipse is still contained in the eclipse package. It should be in the eclipse-platform package, so that one can install eclipse-platform and then choose which development plugins they wish to install manually. From the looks of it, the entire contents of the eclipse package should be moved to eclipse-platform, and eclipse should be changed to a virtual package which depends on eclipse-jdt or whatever you think users expect to have installed by default. Until this is fixed, I'll have to continue using packages from eclipse.org instead of ubuntu for this purpose as I do not want JDT nor PDE installed!

[Olivier Mengué (dolmen)]

I'm confirming this is not fixed in Hardy, as it not fixed in upstream (Debian sid).

We can not currently install the Eclipse JDT without installing the PDE.

All Java developers that want to install Eclipse usually just want the JDT. Those that want to develop Eclipse plugins are already familiar enough with Eclipse quickly find on the Eclipse web site that they need the PDE, and so will easily find the package the lack.

So the depencies are broken in upstream:
- the JDT is unusable after installation of eclipse-jdt (without recommends, so without 'eclipse') because there is no /usr/bin/eclipse (which is in package 'eclipse') installed through required dependencies
- the 'eclipse' package depends on 'eclipse-pde' (Eclipse Plugin Development Environment), which is wrong as explained above.
The PDE is a superset of JDT which a superset of the Eclipse platform : Eclipse plugins are developed in Java, so you need the JDT to code your own plugins, and the JDT runs on the eclipse platform.

So the dependencies should be defined the other way :
- 'eclipse' MUST NOT depend on eclipse-pde, and it must even not be listed as a recommendation of eclipse-pde.
- 'eclipse-jdt' MUST depend on 'eclipse'
- 'eclipse-pde' depends on eclipse-jdt : this dependency is the only one required

[Olivier Mengué (dolmen)]

Please, change the status of this bug. This is not just a "wishlist". This is a real bug that force users to download MB of binaries that they most will never use (PDE).
Fixing the dependencies is probably quite easy, following my solution just above.

[Olivier Mengué (dolmen)]

The dependencies are clearly shown on the Eclipse web site: http://www.eclipse.org/pde/
"PDE is built atop the Platform and JDT, and ships as part of the Eclipse SDK. "

[Olivier Mengué (dolmen)]

Still no progress on this 2 years old bug (NOT whishlist). Can we expect some change for Intrepid?

[Daniel Keep (daniel-keep)]

This makes installing Eclipse for portable development on my netbook a no-go. I don't NEED the Eclipse source and the JDT and CDT and PDE and all the other crap that I'm forced to install.

I just want eclipse and a few specific plugins. Nothing more.

[Niels Thykier (niels-thykier)]

We will try to get this fixed in eclipse 3.5.0-1

~Niels

[Benjamin Drung (bdrung)]

This is fixed in eclipse 3.5.1-0~ubuntu1.

[hackel (hackel)]

How has this issue been fixed? According to the latest informoation on packages.ubuntu.com for the eclipse (3.5.1-0~ubuntu1) packages, eclipse still depends on eclipse-jdt, eclipse-pde, and eclipse-plugin-cvs. Also, according to http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/amd64/eclipse/filelist, /usr/bin/eclipse is still contained in this package, and installing eclipse-platform is useless without this script and the accompanying menu and desktop files, etc. As far as I can tell, nothing has changed...

[Benjamin Drung (bdrung)]

The eclipse packages installs the complete eclipse. You can install eclipse-jdt if you want to have only the Java Development Tools. eclipse-jdt does not pull eclipse-pde and eclipse-plugin-cvs. You can install eclipse-platform if want to have only the platform (e.g. if you want to use cdt).
The important change is, that eclipse-platform contains the menu and desktop files. So you can live without the eclipse package. The eclipse package is now a meta-package.

[hackel (hackel)]

Ahh, it looks like packages.ubuntu.com hadn't been updated yet when I checked, sorry about that!

[Benjamin Drung (bdrung)]

No problem. packages.ubuntu.com needs some time to pickup new package releases.