Multiple eclipse profiles

Question

What's the simplest way to run multiple, completely separate Eclipse profiles?

I have some projects that use google appengine, some android projects, and some standard Java projects. I'd like to keep these three separate, as the app engine and android projects require extensive plugins to be installed that slow Eclipse down and interfere with other functions.

I've tried creating a different workspace for each, but when I e.g. install the android plugin in one workspace it shows up in the others. I believe this is because it adds data to

$HOME/.eclipse

So, what's the easiest/nicest way to run three truly separate profiles?

Answer 1

Create 3 different eclipse installations. (different directories for each installation)

Answer 2

You can create 3 installs with a shared bundle pool (all of the common eclipse plugins shared). Then installing into each individual eclipse install keeps the plugins separate. ex, if PROF=basicEclipse and TARGET=/an/absolute/path

eclipse/eclipse \
-application org.eclipse.equinox.p2.director \
-noSplash -bundlepool $TARGET -shared $TARGET/p2 \
-destination $TARGET/$PROF \
-profile SDKProfile_$PROF \
-profileProperties org.eclipse.update.install.features=true \
-p2.os linux -p2.ws gtk -p2.arch x86_64 -roaming \
-repository http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/updates/3.6 \
-installIUs org.eclipse.sdk.ide

you can launch that eclipse install with $TARGET/basicEclipse/eclipse. Running it again with PROF=androidEclipse creates $TARGET/andoidEclipse with the executables, but shares most of the common eclipse plugins (in the $TARGET directory). I had to use Eclipse 3.7 M7 to run the director app correctly, see https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=342156

However ... unless you're short of disk-space, it seems that simply untarring an install 3 times will be a simpler way to separate your install :-)