If you are upgrading to a newer release of Eclipse from an older release, there are simple steps to follow to migrate your workspace to the new release. Your workspace is the directory on disk that contains all of your project files, as well as meta-data such as preferences you may have customized. The steps to follow for upgrading depend on whether or not you used the "-data" command line argument when starting Eclipse. The "-data" argument is recommended because it clearly specifies the location of your workspace. If this argument is not used, Eclipse will place the workspace in the current working directory at the time Eclipse was launched.
Tip: It doesn't hurt to make a backup of your workspace before upgrading. After you've upgraded your workspace, you won't be able to use it again with an older version of Eclipse. If you ever want to go "back in time" to an earlier release, you'll need that backup!
If you weren't previously using "-data" to specify your workspace, follow these steps to upgrade:
Example:
Old Eclipse install directory:
c:\eclipse2_0
New Eclipse install directory:
c:\eclipse2_1
Workspace location:
c:\data\EclipseWorkspace
Java VM location:
c:\jre
Command line to start Eclipse:
"c:\eclipse2_1 -data c:\data\EclipseWorkspace -vm d:\jre\bin\javaw"
Tip: It's generally a good idea to explicitly specify which Java VM to use when running Eclipse. This is achieved with the "-vm" command line argument as illustrated above. If you don't use "-vm", Eclipse will look on the O/S path. When you install other products, they may change your path, resulting in a different Java VM being used when you next launch Eclipse.
If you were previously using the "-data" argument to start Eclipse, your upgrade path is much easier:
If you have installed extra plug-ins in your Eclipse environment, you will need to add these new plug-ins to each new build or version of Eclipse you install. Before you do this, refer to the documentation for those plug-ins to ensure they are compatible with the version of Eclipse you are moving to. There are several ways to add these extra plug-ins to your new Eclipse install: