How to install, upgrade, and uninstall Eclipse plug-ins

The directory structure of the plug-in installed on the outside is usually similar to the following:

SamplePlugins

| -- Eclipse

| -- Features

| -- Plugins

| --. Eclipseextension

The. eclipseextension file only identifies the eclipse external plug-in and has no practical significance. Some plug-ins do not have this file after decompression. You can create an empty file manually.

There are two ways to install plug-ins externally:

1. Use the Software Update function
In Eclipse, select Help> Software Updates> Manage Configuration. All installed plug-ins are listed here. Right-click Eclipse Platform, select New> Extension Location..., and find the directory of the plug-in to be installed, such as samplePlugins. OK. The installation is successful. Eclipse will prompt you to restart to make the application take effect. Click "yes" to use the new plug-in.
2. Use the links directory Function
Go to the Eclipse installation directory and check whether the links directory exists. If not, create it. Enter the links directory and create a new suffix named. link text files, such as samplePlugs. link. This file has only one line of content in the format of path = plug-in directory, for example, path = C: \ plugins \ samplePlugins. Save and exit. Restart eclipse to see the newly installed plug-in.

There are two ways to upgrade Eclipse
1. Use Help> Software Updates> Find and Install to select the plug-in to be upgraded and follow the prompts.
2. download the new installation file.
Decompress the new version of eclipse and import the previously installed plug-in as described above. If you need to modify the orientation of the workspace, you can. I usually use this method.

You can upgrade the plug-in online or download the new version of the plug-in, and then modify the. link file in the links directory.

How to uninstall the plug-in

In Help> Software Updates> Manage Configuration, you can disable the corresponding plug-in. To completely delete the configuration directory, You need to delete the configuration directory under the eclipse directory. This step is not necessary.

The above operations have been tested from Eclipse2.1 to Eclipse3.x. If eclipse cannot be started normally after modification, go to the configuration directory to view the error log and find a solution. Generally, if it is a configuration problem, you only need to delete the configuration directory.