How to Install The Latest Eclipse Release in

Ubuntu 14.04
June 18, 2014 83 Comments

This quick tutorial is going to show you how to install the latest release of Eclipse, while the
Ubuntu repositories has an very old version.
So far, the latest is Eclipse Kepler (4.3.2). You can follow below steps to install it on Ubuntu
14.04 or other Ubuntu releases.

This tutorial does no longer work since Eclipse Installer was rolled out, you may follow the new
how-to-install
1. Install Java.
If you dont have Java installed on your system. Click the link below to bring up Ubuntu
Software Center and click install OpenJDK Java 7:
Click Install OpenJDK java 7
Or, install Oracle Java from this link.
2. Download Eclipse from its website
You may check out your OS Type 32-bit or 64-bit by going to System Settings -> Details ->
Overview

3. Extract Eclipse to /opt/ for global use

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run the command below to
extract Eclipse to /opt/:
cd /opt/ && sudo tar -zxvf ~/Downloads/eclipse-*.tar.gz

You may replace eclipse-*.tar.gz (without quote) to the exact package name if the command
does not work.
Dont like Linux commands? You can do this by opening Nautilus file browser via root: Press
Alt+F2 -> run gksudo nautilus.
Once done, you should see the eclipse folder under /opt/ directory.

4. Create a launcher shortcut for Eclipse

Press Ctrl+Alt+T, paste below command into the terminal and hit enter (install gksu from
Software Center if below command does not work).
gksudo gedit /usr/share/applications/eclipse.desktop

Above command will create and open the launcher file for eclipse with gedit text editor.
Paste below content into the opened file and save it.
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Eclipse 4
Type=Application
Exec=/opt/eclipse/eclipse
Terminal=false
Icon=/opt/eclipse/icon.xpm
Comment=Integrated Development Environment
NoDisplay=false
Categories=Development;IDE;
Name[en]=Eclipse
Finally open Eclipse from Unity Dash search results and enjoy!