1

I have exhausted just about every link I could find on this topic --- my Google searches are pure purple links now. It's possible I overlooked something, but anyway...

A user, who does not have root access, would like to use PyDev for Eclipse. We are using Eclipse 3.6.1, Linux x86_64. I have identified that the highest working version of PyDev that we can use is 2.8.0 (did this by using root access to discover that versions higher than that won't install).

All guides point to being able to use the .eclipse folder in the user's home directory, but no matter what I put in there, what combination of subfolders, etc., Eclipse absolutely will not detect PyDev.

Let me break down my process for testing this, one step at a time:

  1. cd .eclipse/org.eclipse.platform_3.6.1_793567567/
  2. mkdir dropins
  3. mkdir dropins/PyDev-2.8.0
  4. cd dropins/PyDev-2.8.0
  5. wget <2.8.0 zip file>
  6. unzip PyDev\ 2.8.0.zip

This results in...

~/
   .eclipse/
      artifacts.xml
      configuration/
      dropins/
         PyDev-2.8.0/
            features/
            plugins/
      p2/

Like I said, I've re-arranged this in multiple combinations such that "features" and "plugins" are one directory higher, two directories higher, etc. No combination will seem to do the trick.

When I execute eclipse, I'm using:

eclipse -clean -console -consoleLog

There's never any mention anywhere about PyDev's presence even being acknowledged.

A lot of the guides I've found online seem based on Windows. While eclipse.ini does exist for Linux, and while some guides say that file needs to be modified to include the home directory sub-directory, that file is inaccessible to all but root (and therefore cannot be modified).

Is this going to be doable with absolutely zero root intervention?

CptSupermrkt
  • 6,844
  • 12
  • 56
  • 87

1 Answers1

1

Why would you even need root access? Just have them download the current version from eclipse.org, unpack it somewhere, run it, and add PyDev.

nitind
  • 19,089
  • 4
  • 34
  • 43
  • I assume you mean have the user install another version of Eclipse to the his home directory. We have a perfectly fine working version of Eclipse installed already for all users, and according to all documentation I can find, users are *supposed* to be able to install their own plugins without root access. I want to use that existing functionality --- the question is, how do I do that and why won't the guides I've found work for me? – CptSupermrkt Apr 29 '14 at 14:11
  • Was the installed Eclipse ever run by root? It might have generated configuration data so that it expects to only ever check for dropins in the locations root has access to, leaving that unchangeable by regular users. – nitind Apr 29 '14 at 15:49