Installing Eclipse IDE

Eclipse IDE is an open-source integrated development environment for developin software and applications, usually in Java. To install Eclipse IDE in a computer running on Ubuntu, install first Java Runtime 5(or later). Run the following in the terminal:

sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jre
sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jdk

Download the latest release of Eclipse in the Eclipse downloads page.

Extract the downloaded file and move the eclipse directory into /opt/.

Take care of the permissions:

sudo chmod -R +r /opt/eclipse
sudo chmod +x /opt/eclipse/eclipse

Create an executable in your path:

sudo touch /usr/bin/eclipse
sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/eclipse
sudoedit /usr/bin/eclipse

Copy the following content and save the file:

#!/bin/sh
#export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME="/usr/lib/mozilla/"
export ECLIPSE_HOME="/opt/eclipse"
$ECLIPSE_HOME/eclipse $*

Let's also make eclipse executable everywhere by creating a symlink:

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/eclipse /bin/eclipse

Create the menu icon:

sudoedit /usr/share/applications/eclipse.desktop

Type in this content and save:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Eclipse
Comment=Eclipse IDE
Exec=eclipse
Icon=/opt/eclipse/icon.xpm
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=GNOME;Application;Development;
StartupNotify=true

Run for the first time:

eclipse -clean

After following the said steps, Eclipse IDE can now be started by simply typing eclipse in the terminal or from the GNOME menu Applications -> Programming -> Eclipse.

Aside from this, you can download the ZIP file and just extract it. After that, you can create a launcher or shortcut to it.