How do you install Groovy and Grails plugins for Eclipse/STS without direct internet access?

Question

I’m using a Windows 7 Enterprise edition 64 bit, the firewall means certain update sites are not directly accessible and my standard user is not a local admin.

How do you install the Groovy and Grails plugins for STS?

Answer 1

Update (July 2012): There is now a preconfigured version of STS availabe which comes with Groovy and Grails, simply install or unzip the package and Groovy, Grails and their plugins are pre-installed and working. This is available on the STS site here (eg Groovy/Grails Tool Suite version 3.0.0.M3 zip file is here

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I originally had a number of problems with admin/access rights and the inline STS extensions update site getting blocked by the firewall. I thought installing STS as a local admin would help things but this actually made it worse and caused problems when running STS from a normal user account later. Here are the final steps needed…

User Access Issues: Create a directory eg c:\devtools

1. c:\devtools -> a directory where STS can be installed. (Your Windows 7 User must have full read/write access)
2. Unzipping and all other actions described below should be done as your normal user (this doesn’t require a local admin user) A local admin was only needed to create the devtools directory and grant full read/write access to the standard user.

Download/Firewall Issues: The following files can be downloaded from a separate computer and moved across so the developer PC doesn’t require direct internet access

1. Download the STS Windows Zip File http://www.springsource.org/downloads/sts
   • Eg STS 2.9.0 / Eclipse 3.7.2, Windows 64 Bit zip file http://download.springsource.com/release/STS/2.9.0/dist/e3.7/springsource-tool-suite-2.9.0.RELEASE-e3.7.2-win32-x86_64.zip
   • Unzip this to your ‘devtools’ directory
2. Download Groovy STS Plugin http://ci.repository.codehaus.org/greclipse/snapshot/e37/old/
   • eg Archive v2.6.1 for STS 2.9.0 http://ci.repository.codehaus.org/greclipse/snapshot/e37/old/archive-2.6.1.xx-20120118-1100-e37-M1.zip
   • Go to STS -> Help -> Install New Software -> Click ‘Add’,
   • enter a name, eg ‘STS Groovy Update Zip file’, click ‘Archive’ and select the file that you just downloaded
   • Click ‘Select All’ -> then ‘Next’ -> then ‘Finish’,
   • Accept the confirmations etc then after it has been installed restart STS
3. Download Eclipse Update Zip File (which includes the Grails Plugin) (The Groovy Plugin must be installed first) http://www.springsource.org/downloads/sts
   • Update Site STS 2.9.0 / Eclipse 3.7.2, eg http://download.springsource.com/release/TOOLS/update/2.9.0.RELEASE/e3.7/springsource-tool-suite-2.9.0.RELEASE-e3.7.2-updatesite.zip
   • Go to STS -> Help -> Install New Software -> Click ‘Add’, enter a name, eg ‘STS Update Zip file’, click ‘Archive’ and select the file that you just downloaded
   • Select ‘ Core / STS’ ->
   • Click ‘Extensions / STS’ -> ‘SpringSource Tools Suite Grails Support’ then ‘Next’ -> then ‘Finish’
   • Accept the confirmations etc then after it has been installed restart STS

Answer 2

I've found using the Dashboard works for me. In STS (I'm using 2.9.1, but it worked in 2.8.1 as well and probably earlier), click Help | Dashboard. Near bottom of that Dashboard, you'll see two tabs [Dashboard] and [Extensions]. Click on Extensions and you get a list of the extensions/plugins that are available. I'm not sure if this works any differently through the firewall.