Eclipse crashes at startup in Ubuntu 12.04

[Marco Lackovic]

Eclipse crashes at startup in Ubuntu 12.04 displaying an error dialog with the message "An error has occurred. See the log file /home/user/.eclipse/org.eclipse.platform_3.7.0_155965261/configuration/1334402764482.log." The log file is attached to the report.

I have this problem on multiple computers, some upgraded from 11.10 to 12.04, and some other having had 12.04 installed from scratch. The problem wasn't present in version 11.10.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Derek (bugs-m8y)]

Same issue. Still trying to figure it out.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/137906/eclipse-crashes-at-startup-in-ubuntu-12-04 - got closed here unfortunately

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1950751.html - these people screwed around w/ permissions - bad. I'd like to not have to do that.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/138019/unable-to-open-eclipse-ide-on-ubuntu-12-04 this one suggests symlinking which was not my problem at all and fixed nothing.

[Marco Lackovic (marco-lackovic)]

It got fixed after today's updates.
It works normally again.

[Marco Lackovic (marco-lackovic)]

Actually it didn't get fixed on all computers. It got fixed only in one.
I still have the problem in another computer.

[Derek (bugs-m8y)]

I completely uninstalled eclipse, I then ran locate to find all eclipse files (besides the dpkg stuff) and blew them away.
I removed ~/.eclipse as well.

I then launched eclipse once more.
Same error.

I tried sudo eclipse in desperation as mentioned in the thread. Didn't help, didn't do anything apart from cluttering up /usr w/ config stuff. Nor did starting eclipse as a user after trying sudo.

For whatever info it might provide, attaching the log from the most recent fail (they are all identical).

[Derek (bugs-m8y)]

TLDR: dpkg -P libswt-gtk-3.5-java libswt-gtk-3.5-jni fixed (plus clean uninstall/reinstall and precautionary clearing of ~/.eclipse)

14:47 < nthykier> +ii libswt-gtk-3.5-java 3.5.1+versionbump-5ubuntu1 Standard Widget Toolkit for GTK+ Java library
14:47 < nemo> that bad?
14:48 < nthykier> Could be; which alternative is providing /usr/share/java/swt.jar ? (ls -l /etc/alternatives/swt.jar should do)
14:48 < nemo> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 Nov 9 2010 /etc/alternatives/swt.jar -> /usr/lib/java/swt-gtk-3.5.1.jar
14:49 < nemo> huh. alternatives does libs too? I would think those symlinks would be in /usr/lib
14:49 < nthykier> I am not entirely sure what is up with that use of alternatives, but personally I do not like it
14:50 < nthykier> It also caused bugs like #670756
14:50 < nthykier> try to uninstall the old swt (or update the alternative to point to the new version), purge ~/.eclipse and restart
14:52 < nemo> hm
14:52 < nemo> not really too sure how to do either...
14:52 < nemo> ~/.eclipse has been purged many times already :)
14:52 < nemo> when I check synaptic, only one version of swt-gtk is listed as available
14:52 < nthykier> "dpkg -P libswt-gtk-3.5-java libswt-gtk-3.5-jni" will purge them

[Marco Lackovic (marco-lackovic)]

This problem seems to happen only with Oracle's JDK, not on OpenJDK.
Derek, can you confirm that?

[Marco Lackovic (marco-lackovic)]

I got it fixed by running the following commands:

sudo apt-get install libswt-gtk-3-jni libswt-gtk-3-java
sudo cp /usr/lib/jni/libswt-*3740.so ~/.swt/lib/linux/x86_64/
sudo chown myusername. ~/.swt/lib/linux/x86_64/*
sudo chmod 755 ~/.swt/lib/linux/x86_64/*

[Venelin (venelin-tanev)]

The fix that Marco provides works for me, I've just needed to make some changes because I didn't have such a folder: x86_64.
I run this in terminal:

sudo apt-get install libswt-gtk-3-jni libswt-gtk-3-java
sudo cp /usr/lib/jni/libswt-*3740.so ~/.swt/lib/linux/x86/
sudo chown MYUSERNAME. ~/.swt/lib/linux/x86/*
sudo chmod 755 ~/.swt/lib/linux/x86/*

Thanks, Marco

[Lennart R. (lennart-reuther)]

The problem like described still exists on my machine (also Update from 11.10 to 12.04) even after the changes proposed in #9.

[Nicolas Krzywinski (nsk7even)]

wuuuuiiieeeeh, this finally solved the problem for me too!

Exactly those two packages libswt-gtk-3.5-jni and libswt-gtk-3.5-java were on my system with this "versionbump" suffix and /etc/alternatives/swt.jar pointed to /usr/lib/java/swt-gtk-3.5.1.jar

After removing them, complete removal of all eclipse packages and the ~/.eclipse folder Synaptic first refused to reinstall eclipse because of missing dependencies - aaaha!
Needed to refresh/reload the package informations then everything worked!

[Carolyn Hicks (carolyn-e)]

Thank you! This has been driving me crazy.

The steps in #9 didn't work for me, but removal of the libswt-*3.5* packages did. The link in /etc/alternatives/swt.jar was automatically updated and everything worked after that.

[Ryan C. Underwood (nemesis-icequake)]

I removed all libswt-*3.5* and all eclipse packages and reinstalled same. None of the other tricks worked but this fixed the problem for me.

[Ckon Mapy (koupykon)]

The step #9 works fine. Eclipse just got running again, like it never affraied me. Thanks.

[Francewhoa (francewhoa)]

Another easy workaround is using Ubuntu Software Center and install "Extensible Tool Platform and java IDE" instead of "Eclipse". "Extensible Tool Platform and java IDE" will install a working Eclipse. "This package provides the whole Eclipse SDK that contains Eclipse Platform, Java development tools and Plug-in Development Environment, including source and both user and programmer documentation."

[Pranav Nandan (pranav-tech)]

I tried #9 but it didn't worked for me.
then I tried to remove libswt-*3.5* packages also and reinstalled them.
and installed eclipse too. worked for me :)

[computeristgeek (mailbot-computeristgeek)]

I confirm the bug and the removal of libswt*3.5* as a solution.

Ubuntu 12.04, Eclipse Indigo (fresh install from software center)

[Carlos Andres (basscarland)]

#9 worked for me. Thanks!