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I installed Eclipse from the Software Center. Then I installed a "Aptana" plugin by using:
Help -> Install -> New Software.

The plugin installed and Eclipse restarted, but I can't see any of the editors that I'd expect to see. If I try installing the plugin again, Eclipse insists that the plugin is already installed, and it is visible under: About Eclipse -> Installation Details -> Installed Software

How do I see my new editor windows?

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I would personally recommend not installing through the Software Centre for this very reason. Keeping things up to date for in-development plugins is a nightmare and there's always the chance that you want to stick with a known-working version but the repo version gets updated.

In short, I'd just download it from http://www.eclipse.org, stick it in my /home dir and live happily knowing I have some level of control over my development environment.

This of course comes at the cost of keeping it up to date but this is less of an issue as Eclipse can do this itself.

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  • I've downloaded the basic version of Eclipse from eclipse.org and now when I try to install Aptana I get a dependency error (Aptana Database Explorer (1.5.1.26125-67O07JYTcN) requires plug-in "org.eclipse.gef (3.4.0)", or later version). I am now trying to manually install this dependency but it is not going too well.. Aug 6, 2010 at 11:33
  • Got rid of that error by starting with "Eclipse IDE for Java Developers". Now it seems Aptana has installed okay! Aug 6, 2010 at 11:40
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    Completely right answer. Eclipse has its own system of how to apply updates and install plugins, which often collides with the package management system. In this context it is very similar to applications like Firefox where it is hard to always have the latest version in the software repositories (and the Firefox addons completely ignore the packaging system). Aug 29, 2010 at 14:51
  • FireFox addons ignore the packaging system, but they dont conflict with it. Both live and work happilly. Meaning either Elipses packaging or plugin management was poorly designed.
    – MestreLion
    May 27, 2011 at 23:54
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It depends on which flavor of eclipse you downloaded from http://www.eclipse.org. You need to get the jee flavor to solve the gef problem(Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers). Once you have got the jee flavor in your /home, you can install any plugin.

You can use the dropins directory found under eclipse to put any of your plugins if you want to skip installing when you change eclipse. Must create the following structure:

  • /home//eclipse/dropins//eclipse/plugins
  • /home//eclipse/dropins//eclipse/features
  • /home//eclipse/dropins//eclipse/.eclipseextension

Many of eclipse plugins comes with this structure. But the plugin aptana creates this structure when installed.

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