How to Install Eclipse CDT with Java 8

From Eclipse Neon, the minimal required version of Java becomes 8. Here is a note about how to configure the java environment properly to run the latest Eclipse in Ubuntu 14.04.

Download Eclipse CDT

Download eclipse from the [official website](https://eclipse.org/cdt/downloads.php). Extract it to your preferred location.

Install Java 8

Java 8 is not readily available in the apt-get repository of Ubuntu 14.04. You can use the following third-party ppa to install it.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openjdk-r/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt install openjdk-8-jdk

Configure the default Java Runtime

$ sudo update-alternatives --config java

Similarly, to choose a default javac compiler, run the following command. (You don’t need this step if you just want to run Eclipse CDT with no Java development.)

$ sudo update-alternatives --config javac

Now you should be able to run the latest Eclipse without the Java version error message.

Reference:

• [1] https://launchpad.net/~openjdk-r/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
• [2] http://askubuntu.com/questions/705072/is-the-openjdk-r-ppa-trustworty
• [3] https://dzone.com/articles/choosing-java-version-ubuntu