Eclipse startup error

Question

Today when I started eclipse I got the following error message:

An internal error occurred during: "Updating indexes". Java heap space

When I checked the log, there is this exception:

!ENTRY org.eclipse.core.jobs 4 2 2011-06-14 13:44:26.546
!MESSAGE An internal error occurred during: "Updating indexes".
!STACK 0
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space
at org.sonatype.nexus.index.updater.IndexDataReader.readUTF(IndexDataReader.java:132)
at org.sonatype.nexus.index.updater.IndexDataReader.readField(IndexDataReader.java:122)
at org.sonatype.nexus.index.updater.IndexDataReader.readDocument(IndexDataReader.java:96)
at org.sonatype.nexus.index.updater.IndexDataReader.readIndex(IndexDataReader.java:63)
at org.sonatype.nexus.index.updater.DefaultIndexUpdater.unpackIndexData(DefaultIndexUpdater.java:564)
at org.sonatype.nexus.index.updater.DefaultIndexUpdater.loadIndexDirectory(DefaultIndexUpdater.java:252)
at org.sonatype.nexus.index.updater.DefaultIndexUpdater.access$300(DefaultIndexUpdater.java:74)
at org.sonatype.nexus.index.updater.DefaultIndexUpdater$LuceneIndexAdaptor.setIndexFile(DefaultIndexUpdater.java:815)
at org.sonatype.nexus.index.updater.DefaultIndexUpdater.fetchAndUpdateIndex(DefaultIndexUpdater.java:995)
at org.sonatype.nexus.index.updater.DefaultIndexUpdater.fetchAndUpdateIndex(DefaultIndexUpdater.java:159)
at org.maven.ide.eclipse.internal.index.NexusIndexManager.updateRemoteIndex(NexusIndexManager.java:1085)
at org.maven.ide.eclipse.internal.index.NexusIndexManager.updateIndex(NexusIndexManager.java:1025)
at org.maven.ide.eclipse.internal.index.NexusIndexManager$1.run(NexusIndexManager.java:632)
at org.maven.ide.eclipse.internal.index.IndexUpdaterJob.run(IndexUpdaterJob.java:71)
at org.eclipse.core.internal.jobs.Worker.run(Worker.java:54)
!SESSION 2011-06-14 13:46:30.734 -----------------------------------------------
eclipse.buildId=M20100909-0800
java.version=1.6.0_23
java.vendor=Sun Microsystems Inc.
BootLoader constants: OS=win32, ARCH=x86, WS=win32, NL=en_GB
Framework arguments:  -product org.eclipse.epp.package.jee.product
Command-line arguments:  -os win32 -ws win32 -arch x86 -product org.eclipse.epp.package.jee.product

I tried the following with no success:

• Increase the memory in the .ini file in eclipse:

  -Xms128m
  -Xmx512m
  -XX:MaxPermSize=256m
  

• Create the environment variable "MAVEN_OPTS:-Xmx256m"

• Delete the ~/.cache/m2e directoy

Does anyone have another idea?

Answer 1

This problem was caused by older versions of the m2e plugin for Eclipse.

Newer versions no longer transfer the remote index automatically, so the first recommended solution is to upgrade to the latest version of m2e. If that is not possible then follow the instructions below.

---

This problem is caused by the M2Eclipse plugin transferring remote indexes from a Nexus ( or compatible ) repository.

1. Disconnect from the network;
2. Start Eclipse.
3. Uncheck the preference Maven -> Download repository index updates on startup.

You can now reconnect to the network and should restart Eclipse to verify that this has indeed fixed the problem.