"Unable to acquire application service" error while launching Eclipse

Question

When ever I try to launch my eclipse I am getting the following exception an its not coming up.

java.lang.IllegalStateException: Unable to acquire application service. Ensure that the org.eclipse.core.runtime bundle is resolved and started (see config.ini).                                                                         
  at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:74)
  at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:368)
  at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:179)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
  at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
  at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:559)
  at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:514)
  at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1311)

Need help. Thanks.

Answer 1

The /configuration/config.ini file should contain org.eclipse.core.runtime@start in the commaseparated osgi.bundles property. Here is the default osgi.bundles property, maybe it was (accidently) changed during some upgrade:

osgi.bundles=org.eclipse.equinox.common@2:start,org.eclipse.update.configurator@3:start,org.eclipse.core.runtime@start

You can if necessary override it by setting it as VM argument in /eclipse.ini:

-Dosgi.bundles=org.eclipse.equinox.common@2:start,org.eclipse.update.configurator@3:start,org.eclipse.core.runtime@start

Answer 2

I have had the same problem, and here's how I solved it: I added the plugin "org.eclipse.core.runtime" in the "plugins" section on the "configuration" tab of the .product editor. I set it's start level to default and auto-start to true. I removed other plugins. My reasoning was this: Eclipse is complaining that the org.eclipse.core.runtime isn't started, so let's make sure that it does start, and that it's the only plugin that's starting.

My application ran fine after I did this. I then inspected the config.ini to see what changed, and saw that org.eclipse.core.runtime was now changed to org.eclipse.core.runtime@start. This is consistent with BalusC's suggestion, I just did it from the .product editor.