How to debug Eclipse crash on startup?

Question

Sometimes I have to deal with an improperly configured Eclipse installation and when I try to run it only the dialog "Java was started but returned exit code shows up without giving me any useful information to trace the actual reason Java failed to start.

What is the best approach to debug this kind of problem?

Answer 1

There are several command-line options that can help with troubleshooting. I'd start with -debug -consoleLog and see if that produces useful output.

Answer 2

You can run eclipse with the verbose attribute from command line

eclipse -verbose

Read more about debugging eclipse and plugins here http://exploreeclipse.blogspot.nl/2014/01/enable-eclipse-verbose-for-trouble.html?m=1

By default, eclipse launches with javaw.exe process, since it's a window thread so you will not be able to see any verbose messages.

Step 1: Add below VM parameter in eclipse.ini file. By default, eclipse will have javaw.exe, modify it to java.exe -vm C:/KK/jdk1.6.0_32/bin/java.exe

Step 2: Pass verbose parameter during the eclipse launch. eclipse -verbose