Where does Eclipse look for eclipse.ini under Linux

Question

I've just been setting up a Ubuntu workstation and wanted to add some settings to eclipse.ini. When I searched for the file I found:

• /etc/eclipse.ini
• /usr/lib/eclipse.ini

My questions are:

• Does Eclipse actually use both files?
• If so, in what order does it read them?
• How does it merge them?
• Both of the files I found are system wide, is there a location in my home directory I could put one that would effect only my instances?

Answer 1

There is only one file.

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Aug 8 2012 /usr/lib/eclipse/eclipse.ini -> /etc/eclipse.ini

Answer 2

Here's how to determine which eclipse.ini file you should use (joomla.org):

• If you downloaded Eclipse IDE manually from internet the "eclipse.ini" file is just inside the unpacked folder
• If you installed Eclipse via terminal or software center the location of the file is "/etc/eclipse.ini"
• In some Linux versions the file can be found at "/usr/share/eclipse/eclipse.ini". Do not use this file if you found a config file at "/etc/eclipse.ini".

To be sure where your Eclipse folder is, check $ECLIPSE_HOME, and if not specified (these directions at least work for Juno):

• Open Eclipse as you normally do.
• Click Help -> About Eclipse SDK
• Click Installation Details
• Go to the Configuration tab
• Find "eclipse.home.location=file:PATH". PATH is where eclipse is installed.

sources:

• http://docs.joomla.org/Configuring_Eclipse_IDE_for_PHP_development/Linux: