How to see what triggered "Build workspace" in Eclipse

Question

My eclipse is constantly running "Build Workspace" tasks. It is not a long running builds, more like 1 build a second. Sometimes I'd see 10 "Build workspace" tasks sleeping and waiting in the Progress tab.

I'd like to know what is triggering those builds. I have many plugins installed. What is the way to troubleshoot this?

Answer 1

Here are some steps to help you debug what is going on.

1. Download the Eclipse Classic SDK for whatever version of Eclipse you are currently using. For Juno that link is here.
2. Open the eclipse.ini for your current normal eclipse and add the following options: -Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=y,address=8000
3. Start your Eclipse instance that you want to debug, it should pause at the splash screen
4. Unzip the Eclipse classic SDK and start that Eclipse instance
5. Open the Plugins view
6. Find org.eclipse.core.resources
7. Right click and select "Add to Java Search"
8. Open Type dialog, type in "BuildManager"
9. You should see a class from that plugin be given as an option, then open it
10. Find the line that looks like: prereqs = currentBuilder.build(trigger, args, monitor); It should be about line 728 (For Eclipse Juno)
11. Set a breakpoint here
12. Create a new Remote Java Application debug configuration and point to localhost port 8000
13. Launch this debug configuration
14. You should see your other Eclipse instance startup

Now every time the Eclipse build manager fires off a build (which should happen on all of those Build Workspace jobs), then you will see this breakpoint be hit and you can find out what builder is firing.

Update 1

If you need source to other Eclipse bundles they can also be added in the "Plug-ins" view. Select all the plugins there and right-click and use Add to Java Search

Answer 2

What plugins do you have installed that are currently active?

Press CTRL+3 type "plugin" and then choose plugin registry. In the plugin view right click and choose "Active Only"

Check the non-essential core plugins (for example related to servers which automatically build & publish)

Post a screenshot of active plugins if you need any more help