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How to run a custom Eclipse on macOS

(Apparantly, this was successfully tested on AMD64-based and ARM64-based Macs.)

Problem

If you just run a custom Eclipse without further configuration on modern macOS systems, you will propably get one of the following error messages:

Solution

The following steps are necessary to run a custom Eclipse on modern macOS systems.

  • Allow your Terminal the privileges to Full Disk Access and Developer Tools in the Settings app of macOS.
    • Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Full Disk Access -> Add Terminal app and/or toggle its setting to on.
    • Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Developer Tools -> Add Terminal app and/or toggle its setting to on.
  • Install the recommend JDK, e.g., Eclipse Temurin JDK 21.
  • Download the custom Eclipse archive (e.g., from https://emoflon.org or GitHub).
  • Extract it with a double click.
  • Right click on Eclipse.app -> Show Package Contents -> Navigate into Contents.
  • Open Info.plist with a text editor of your choice (e.g., VSCodium).
  • Open a Terminal window and run $ /usr/libexec/java_home
    • This should return you a single path to your default Java JDK installation, e.g., /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/temurin-21.jdk/Contents/Home
  • Leave your Terminal window open and return to your text editor (showing the contents of Info.plist). Scroll down into the <array> block below the line <key>Eclipse</key> and enter your Java JDK's path with this syntax: <string>-vm</string><string>$YOUR_PATH/bin/java</string>
    • Example: <string>-vm</string><string>/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/temurin-21.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java</string>
  • Save the file, close your editor, and open your Terminal window again.
  • Navigate the Terminal window to your Eclipse folder using cd $FOLDER_NAME, e.g., cd Downloads/eclipse.
    • Verify that your custom Eclipse.app is located in the currently selected folder via ls.
  • Sign the modified Eclipse.app with this command: $ sudo codesign --force --deep --sign - ./Eclipse.app
    • When requested, type in the password of your user account and hit enter.
  • Run $ xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./Eclipse.app within the Terminal.
  • As for the Terminal app, add the privileges for Full Disk Access and Developer Tools to your Eclipse.app.

You can now start your custom Eclipse.app with a double click on it. If macOS asks if you really want to start the "broken" app, select Run. If there is no option to run it, you can force macOS into opening it by going to the "Privacy and Security" settings and scrolling down to the bottom.

All modifications on the local Eclipse.app can also be made with this script.

Currently known issues

... besides the hustle to get Eclipse running.

  • Custom eMoflon settings will not be honored.
    • The default perspective is not the eMoflon perspective.
    • The default workspace encoding may not be UTF8.
    • The default git clone path is not ${workspace_loc}/git as required to run eMoflon.

References/Pointers to useful websites