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Is there any non-painful way to upgrade an Eclipse installation? I have tried browsing the eclipse site but I cannot find an useful description.

Mariano Sánchez
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3 Answers3

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Add the update URL to your available sites:

Window > Preferences > Install/Update > Available Software Sites > Add...

    Name:  Oxygen  
Location:  http://download.eclipse.org/releases/oxygen/

Then tell Eclipse to look for updates: Help > Check for updates.

After the installation, Eclipse will restart and show the old splash screen. Next time you manually stop/start Eclipse it will correctly show the correct splash screen.

Duncan Jones
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    @PaulVerest The [FAQ How do I upgrade Eclipse](http://wiki.eclipse.org/FAQ_How_do_I_upgrade_Eclipse%3F) page disagrees with you. It suggests platform upgrades were only a problem in v3.3 or earlier. – Duncan Jones Jun 28 '13 at 07:06
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    Nice to know. But is the FAQ really up-to-date? Could user really upgrade 3.7 to 4.3 for example? What about all those plugins, that can break on newer platform? – Paul Verest Jun 28 '13 at 07:14
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    @PaulVerest Good question! The docs do feel a little rusty. I just don't know the extent to which you can trust the upgrade system. I think I've only ever upgraded once before, all other times I just fresh install. – Duncan Jones Jun 28 '13 at 07:16
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    This method worked perfectly fine for me on Windows 7 - but I also edited the update site from 4.2 -> 4.3, _e.g.:_ **The Eclipse Project Updates** should now point to `http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/updates/4.3` – Mark Mikofski Jul 25 '13 at 05:58
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    oh and I also updated some of my plugin repos to point to kepler too, e.g. cdt, just for consistency, because actually the juno repo worked fine. And I disabled the juno release repo. It was confusing that some of the updated features did not show as installed, even thought they were. – Mark Mikofski Jul 25 '13 at 06:28
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    One more gotcha: after you update your repos eclipse will restart _but the splash screen will **still** display "JUNO" **even though** the release number says "4.3.xxx"_. Close eclipse and start eclipse manually, and it will now say "KEPLER" in the splash screen. – Mark Mikofski Jul 26 '13 at 16:28
  • After doing so, should I disable the site for Juno now that Kepler site is in place? – Gaurav Kumar Aug 14 '13 at 16:45
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    I accidentally upgraded Eclipse 3.7 to 4.2 recently doing a "Check for Updates" (was looking for a Spring component update, but accidentally upgraded everything), and apart from a couple of plugins that needed to be manually reinstalled as I didn't have the 4.2 update site enabled (AJDT, for example), I was amazed that it actually upgraded smoothly. I'm tempted to upgrade to Kepler, but given that Juno is working reasonably well right now, not sure that it is worth it. – Eric B. Sep 04 '13 at 14:27
  • @EricB. Thanks for sharing that. I'm planning to upgrade from Indigo to Kepler. Your experience instils confidence to do so. :) – Ravi K Thapliyal Sep 13 '13 at 15:30
  • This worked fine for Juno -> Kepler. I also updated the Mylyn repo to point to kepler (prior to updating). – 323go Jan 31 '14 at 15:00
  • fwiw: Another update tutorial (http://codebin.co.uk/blog/upgrading-eclipse-from-juno-to-kepler/): I just used it, it appears up-to-date (other comments here mentioned a different tutorial seemed out-of-date...). – cellepo Mar 31 '14 at 17:53
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    I just updated from Juno to Kepler SR2, and I did not need to change the update site to `http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/updates/4.3`. This seems to have been done automatically for me. – Ryan Bennetts Apr 01 '14 at 01:05
  • Is it possible to update from Juno 3.8.2 to Kepler using this method? I tried this, but it shows "No updates available" – MRalwasser Jun 12 '14 at 15:04
  • is it only me who screwed my eclipse following this?Eclipse not opening for me.Keplet to Luna – NeverGiveUp161 Nov 19 '14 at 13:10
  • It worked, updated from Juno to Luna in windows 7. And no need to edit "The Eclipse Project Updates" it automatically added version 4.4 – fean May 25 '15 at 17:03
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You can simply download the newer version, then use "File -> Import -> Install -> From Existing Installation" to add all the plugins you had in your previous installation.

Here's a link describing the whole process in details (it says "on Mac Os X", however it should work for other systems as well):

http://www.corephp.com/blog/how-to-upgrade-eclipse-juno-4-2-to-eclipse-kepler-4-3-on-mac-os-x/#.UfJsoI1_McY

Nikita Tkachenko
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  • This answer helped me (even for Kepler -> Luna, even though link is for Juno -> Kepler): Updating did not work for me; alternatively I only had to follow the linked steps up to them specifying use existing work space (that got my existing settings, and I didn't happen to need to update any plugins). Pretty painless, at least in my case. – cellepo Jul 09 '14 at 19:45
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    Still valid. I just updated from Luna (4.4) to Mars (4.5) using this process and kept my existing workspace. Worked perfectly. Tip: when launching for the first time, create a temporary workspace, then import your old plugins as described above, switch workspace to your old workspace, migrate it and then delete the temporary workspace. This way, you have all your plugins by the time you load your workspace and won't have to deal with errors for missing plugins. – Jilles van Gurp Jun 25 '15 at 09:06
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If previous releases are anything to go by, then the answer is No. It is best to download the new release, install it, install the latest versions your favourite plugins and point Eclipse at your workspace.

(Common sense says that you should take a backup of your workspace(s) and your original Eclipse installation.)

I've previously tried the "upgrade" path and found that it was slow and didn't give good results.

Stephen C
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  • I usually start using new workspace and check-out needed projects. – Paul Verest Jun 28 '13 at 07:20
  • This method also worked (in addition to the [answer above](http://stackoverflow.com/a/17337667/1020470) by [Duncan Jones](http://stackoverflow.com/users/474189/duncan-jones). I would definitely back up your workspace first, or at the very least backup your .metadata folder. The downside of this method of course is that you have to reinstall your plugins. My old workspace worked fine with the new version. – Mark Mikofski Jul 25 '13 at 06:15
  • btw: egit is now part of the standard install, so you don't necessarily have to add the egit repo, although, today (2013-07-24) it had a newer version than the kepler updates repo. – Mark Mikofski Jul 25 '13 at 06:29