Java Runtime Environment

The Eclipse IDE requires that a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) be installed on your machine to run. While it can run using a Java 1.4 JRE, a Java5 JRE is recommended. Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers requires a Java5 JRE.

There are many different implementations of the Java Platform running atop a variety of operating systems. We focus Eclipse IDE testing on a handful of popular combinations of operating system and Java Platform; these are our reference platforms. Eclipse undoubtedly runs fine in many operating environments beyond the reference platforms we test, including those using Java6 VMs. However, since we do not systematically test them we cannot vouch for them.

The Eclipse IDE is tested and validated on the following reference platforms:

Reference Platforms
Microsoft Windows Vista, x86-32, Win32 running (any of):
  • Sun Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Update 11 for Microsoft Windows
  • IBM 32-bit SDK for Windows, Java 2 Technology Edition 5.0, SR4
  • BEA JRockit 5.0, for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows XP, x86-32, Win32 running (any of):
  • Sun Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Update 11 for Microsoft Windows
  • IBM 32-bit SDK for Windows, Java 2 Technology Edition 5.0, SR4
  • BEA JRockit 5.0, for Microsoft Windows
  • Sun Java 2 Standard Edition 1.4.2_14 for Microsoft Windows
  • IBM 32-bit SDK for Windows, Java 2 Technology Edition 1.4.2 SR7
  • BEA JRockit 1.4.2, for Microsoft Windows
(new) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0, x86-32, GTK running (any of):
  • Sun Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Update 11 for Linux x86
  • IBM 32-bit SDK for Linux on Intel architecture, Java 2 Technology Edition 5.0, SR4
  • BEA JRockit 5.0, for Linux x86
  • Sun Java 2 Standard Edition 1.4.2_13 for Linux x86
  • IBM 32-bit SDK for Linux on Intel architecture, Java 2 Technology Edition 1.4.2 SR7
  • BEA JRockit 1.4.2, for Linux x86
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, x86-32, GTK running (any of):
  • Sun Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Update 11 for Linux x86
  • IBM 32-bit SDK for Linux on Intel architecture, Java 2 Technology Edition 5.0, SR4
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 update 2, x86-64, GTK running:
  • Sun Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Update 11 for Linux x86_64

Because Java 1.4.2 and Java5 based platforms are used for most Eclipse development, those platforms are listed here. Although there are teams doing some Java 6 based development we have not included specific Java6 VMs, since they have not yet received the general level of testing we require. We expect that Eclipse will work fine on other current Java VMs running on window systems supported by SWT, but can not flag these as reference platforms without significant community support for testing them.

Similarly, although untested, the Eclipse IDE should work fine on other OSes that support the same window system. For Win32: NT, 2000, and Server 2003; SWT HTML viewer requires Internet Explorer 5 (or higher). For GTK on other Linux systems: version 2.2.1 of the GTK+ widget toolkit and associated libraries (GLib, Pango) are required; SWT HTML viewer requires Mozilla 1.4GTK2.