Eclipse Integration with Tortoise SVN
July 14th, 2007 by Aaron
I generally don’t like to be tied to a specific IDE when developing. Additionally, I like to have my choice in using tools to manage my source control (tortoisesvn, svn command line, etc). I just think this is the open-source way - it seems to be just a more free-spirited way of developing and managing projects. With this in mind, I’ve been looking for ways to integrate my SVN into my current IDE (Eclipse PDT) but not limit myself from accessing my SVN repositories from the file system. I’ve found a great plugin to help with this - so lets go over the specifics:
To keep a free and open working environment, I create my project folders on the file system, and check out my SVN projects directly into them (of course I script this!). Because of this, I can access my svn and project details outside of any specific tool. I’ve been using TortoiseSVN on windows as a shell integration tool for SVN and have found it the best tool in my arsenal so far. I’ve also been using Eclipse PDT (Eclipse base 3.2 - newest version of PDT from zend.com/pdt) for my IDE recently.
In order to leverage some of the tools in Eclipse, without binding myself to my eclipse project (see: subclipse), I searched for a tortoisesvn plugin. Finally, I found this one. Easy enough to install and use - and added the most popular commands to my right click menu in my PHP Explorer (in PDT)? How could I resist.
Install the Plugin
First off, download the zip file. Put the unzipped folder in your plugins directory for eclipse and launch eclipse. There. All set. Lets configure:
Configure the plugin
There isn’t alot of documentation about the actual features of the plugin. However, after some trial and error, I was able to get it to work successfully. Unfortunately, we have the “What are these for” “extra parts” syndrome. There are some fields I’m not sure what they are…
First off, goto Window > preferences > tortoise.
Next, fill in the first field with the path to your tortoise executable. Mine was:
C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\TortoiseProc.exe
Finally, blank out the other two fields and click ok. I honestly have no idea what they’re used for… there didn’t seem to be any difference between having them filled and not. If you know what they’re for, feel free to leave a comment.
Action Time
Now, once you right click on a folder or file in the PHP Explorer in PDT (haven’t tried this in ‘navigator’), you can access tortoise’s menus (almost…) from the tortoise menu option. The actions are taken against the folder / file that you’re right clicked on… so your update, etc, is great.
Over all, I’m pretty happy. This plugin has definitely made itself a nice place in my eclipsie heart.
Tags: Eclipse PDT, IDE and Web Dev Tools, svn
This entry was posted on Saturday, July 14th, 2007 at 4:57 pm and is filed under Eclipse PDT • IDE and Web Dev Tools • svn. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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December 14th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Hi - nice post. I am trying out the same plugin for about the same reasons.
One thing I would like to see is the icon overlays that Tortoise provides in the file system. In Subclipse you are browsing the repo - but I would like to see them in the Project Explorer view.
When I set up prefs I input the repo URL and the local filesystem location in the fields that you mentioned leaving blank. It didn’t seem to make any difference.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Yah - I’ve tried but I don’t think that functionality exists - if you figure it out - let me know!
-aaron
February 15th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Hi,
I’ve tried using it from the Package Explorer and it also works.
Thanks for the tutorial!
JanKees
August 23rd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
[...] Eclipse PDT? Check out this wikiAugust 23rd, 2008 by AaronAre you a huge fan of Eclipse PDT (as I apparently [...]
October 12th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Great tutorial, it helps me alot.. tnx dude.
October 13th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I am a new eclipse user and also found the plugin you mentioned. Unfortunately I can not get this plugin to install at all. It seems my eclipse environment just doesn’t see it. What am I missing? My stats:
Running Eclipse platform 3.3.2 in windows
It doesn’t show up anywhere in “Manage Configuration” and I can’t seem to install zips using “Find and Install…”
Copied to both directories with no luck:
C:\QNX640\host\win32\x86\usr\qde\eclipse\plugins
C:\QNX640\target\qnx6\usr\help\eclipse\plugins
Help, this is driving me crazy! Thanks.
October 14th, 2008 at 8:11 am
@Joshua: You may have to restart eclipse fresh with “eclipse -clean” on the command line - this will rescan for all of your items.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Well I did try the -clean and there was still no luck. What I noticed is that Eclipse seems to require a feature.xml file before it will show up at all and this plugin doesn’t have one. How did you get around that issue? Is there a generic feature.xml file I can use?
October 15th, 2008 at 8:13 am
@Joshua: Mine does not have a feature.xml either - what it needs is a plugin.xml file to work properly. Then it also has the jar file, and then an icons folder.
Sorry man - I don’t know what it could be. Have you tried contacting the author of that plugin?