Installing Eclipse with RadRails and Subclipse under Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)

Over the past few weeks I have increasingly found myself unhappy developing Rails applications in NetBeans 6. While I was initially happy with the productivity boost from moving from writing applications in nano to using a full IDE I found myself reverting to using nano. The reason was simply that NetBeans was putting too much load on my desktop system. The system isn’t exactly slow (Athlon 64 X2 4600+, 2GB RAM) yet when running NetBeans the system load was hovering between 4 and 5 making development tedious. Before trying NetBeans I had read a lot about various IDE’s and I decided to revisit that research. One consistent complement to Eclipse with RadRails was that the performance was snappy. I decided to give it a try, if for no other reason than to expand my Rails IDE experiences.

After doing some research I decided to start with the version of Eclipse currently packaged in Ubuntu (3.2.2) even though a newer version (3.3.1) is available.

Optional first step: I actually started the download of the eclipse packages before deciding that the Ubuntu server being used was too slow. So as a first step I would suggest setting an apt mirror to something close and fast. I did this using adept and it knocked tens of minutes of download time off the first step.

Install the eclipse package: After setting my repository to be a fast mirror I ran:

• sudo apt-get install eclipse

Even with the fast mirror this took several minutes to download and install the 80MB+ of packages.

Run Eclipse: I then ran Eclipse by choosing it from the Development menu. The first prompt is to create a workspace and I just used the default.

Install Aptana IDE:

• Though it’s not at all intuitive the next step is to run the following menu item: “Help” - “Software Updates” - “Find and Install…”.
• Then select “Search for new features to install” and click “Next >”.
• On the “Install” page click the button “New Remote Site”.
• For “Name:” enter “Aptana IDE”. For “URL:” enter “http://update.aptana.com/install/3.2/”
• Ensure that only “Aptana IDE” is included (checked) in the “Sites to include in search” and click the “Finish” button.
• In the “Updates” window select “Aptana IDE” by checking the box next to it and click the “Next >” button.
• Read the License Agreement, accept the terms, and click the “Next >” button.
• The downloads should be installed into the .eclipse folder in your home directory by default. If this is acceptable click the “Finish” button.
• Wait for the downloads to complete.
• Once the downloads are complete click the “Install” button on the “Verification” screen.
• When it is recommended that Eclipse be restarted click “Yes”.

Install Aptana RadRails:

• Again navigate the menus to: “Help” - “Software Updates” - “Find and Install…”.
• Select “Search for new features to install” and click “Next >”.
• On the “Install” page click the button “New Remote Site”.
• For “Name:” enter “Aptana RadRails”. For “URL:” enter “http://update.aptana.com/install/rails/3.2/”
• Ensure that only “Aptana RadRails” is included (checked) in the “Sites to include in search” and click the “Finish” button.
• In the “Updates” window expand the “Aptana RadRails” entry by clicking the arrow on the far left.
• Select (check) “Aptana RadRails” but leave “Aptana RadRails Integration” unchecked (attempting to select this feature gives an error) and click the “Next >” button.
• Read the License Agreement, accept the terms, and click the “Next >” button.
• The downloads should be installed into the .eclipse folder in your home directory by default. If this is acceptable click the “Finish” button.
• Wait for the downloads to complete.
• Once the downloads are complete click the “Install” button on the “Verification” screen.
• When it is recommended that Eclipse be restarted click “Yes”.

Setup Ruby interpreter:

• Upon restart I received the error “Unable to detect Ruby install”. Since I had ruby installed I chose to click the “Setup preferences” button.
• Under “Installed Interpreters” I clicked the “Add” button.
• For “RubyVM home directory:” I entered “/usr/bin/” amd for “RubyVM display name:” I entered “ruby 1.8.6”. I then clicked the “OK” button.
• Back on the “Installed Interpreters” page I selected “ruby 1.8.6” and clicked the “OK” button.

Install Subclipse:

• Again navigate the menus to: “Help” - “Software Updates” - “Find and Install…”.
• Select “Search for new features to install” and click “Next >”.
• On the “Install” page click the button “New Remote Site”.
• For “Name:” enter “Subclipse”. For “URL:” enter “http://subclipse.tigris.org/update_1.0.x”
• Ensure that only “Subclipse” is included (checked) in the “Sites to include in search” and click the “Finish” button.
• In the “Updates” window select “Subclipse” by checking the box next to it and click the “Next >” button.
• Read the License Agreement, accept the terms, and click the “Next >” button.
• The downloads should be installed into the .eclipse folder in your home directory by default. If this is acceptable click the “Finish” button.
• Wait for the downloads to complete.
• Once the downloads are complete click the “Install” button on the “Verification” screen.
• When it is recommended that Eclipse be restarted click “Yes”.

Done:

At this point a fully functional Eclipse setup with RadRails and Subclipse should be available. Subclipse will enable Rails projects to be created from existing Subversion repositories though they can also be create from existing Rails project directories. Since I’m still new to Eclipse I’m not sure what else to recommend at this point other than to start using the IDE and getting a feel for it. I don’t have enough experience to do a thorough comparison with NetBeans 6 but I will say that Eclipse is faster and lighter than NetBeans 6 as my system load remains within reasonable levels during use.