Eclipse (Galileo) : Why does "Initializing Java Tooling : 59%" take FOREVER?

Question

New to Java and Eclipse. For some reason, the first time I load Eclipse on a given day, it freezes at "Initializing Java Tooling : 59%". Eventually, it gets past this and I can do my work. However, this "Initializing Java Tooling : 59%" stage takes a REALLY REALLY REALLY long time. Does anybody know why it does this or how to fix it?

Answer 1

You can take several thread dumps of the Eclipse Java process to see what plugins are being executed. Here is some info on how to take thread dumps.

What happen is that Eclipse loads all project configurations and then for each project it initializes all declared builders. The builder loading and initialization is what takes most of the time. Some builders need to resolve and/or reload project dependencies such as jars and other projects and also check if project resources had changed. This process can also trigger initialization of builders on other projects and it may take longer depending on 3rd party plugins you are using.

Answer 2

It breaks on a per workspace basis. I have had some success removing plugin data. Usually this can be found by at:-

[workspace-directory]/.metadata/.plugins

If you delete everything except:-

org.eclipse.core.resources

You will keep your projects but everything else will be deleted (preferences, scm repositories ... etc.) and will need to be recreated/reimported (you will be greeted by the welcome page, but do not be alarmed).

There is probably a specific set of plugin data that should be deleted, but this fixed my last occurence, and so I have nothing else against which to further hone in on the problem state ... for the time being.