Is it possible to have multiple Eclipse installs on one computer?

Question

Is it possible to have multiple Eclipse installs on one computer? To make myself more clear, does Eclipse create any local settings files that other installs would mistake for their own?

Answer 1

I do Eclipse plug-in development, so I have 9 Eclipses installed, from 3.2 to 4.2

I put each Eclipse in a separate directory like this.

C:
    eclipse-3.6 RCP
    eclipse-4.2 Java
    eclipse-4.2 RCP

I unzip the Eclipse package to the appropriate sub-directory.

I use Windows, so I create a shortcut for the Eclipse executable modules (eclipse.exe).

24 September 2015 update based on the comments:

I have a separate workspace for each of my Eclipse instances. When I want to upgrade one of my workspaces to a newer Eclipse, I do the following:

1. Unzip the newer Eclipse to a eclipse- directory. My most recent version now is Eclipse Luna (4.4.2).

2. Create a new workspace.

3. Carefully, one Java project at a time, copy the project code from the old workspace to the new workspace. Test and make sure everything in the Java project works.

4. Keep the old workspace as a backup for at least 6 months.

If you work on Eclipse plug-ins, step 3 is a bit different.

3. Create a new Eclipse plug-in. Carefully copy your Eclipse plug-in code from the old Eclipse plug-in to the new Eclipse plug-in. Test as you reconstruct your Eclipse plug-in. This is as painful as it reads, which is why I don't upgrade my Eclipse plug-ins too often.

Answer 2

Yes, Eclipse support multiple installs. By default Eclipse installs in one directory with all the options, configs, etc. in different subdirectories. The only problem would be with choosing proper Eclipse install for given project (e.g. opening C++ project in Eclipse for php without C++ components).

Answer 3

Yes you can have multiple installs. Most settings are kept in the workspace's .metadata directory. There may be some other settings stored back in the install directory. I've never heard of any settings being saved off anywhere else.