The .classpath file reflects the content of all the settings that you apply manually to your BUILD PATH setup within your project.
In other words: while using the eclipse UI to setup the BUILD PATH, all that information goes into the .classpath file.
And it is perfectly possible to stop eclipse and make changes to that file within your preferred editor; then restart eclipse, probably do a full refresh; and (unless you messed up) the changes should be visible when opening your BUILD PATH settings again.
Answer from GhostCat on Stack OverflowHow to place a file on classpath in Eclipse? - Stack Overflow
java - What's in an Eclipse .classpath/.project file? - Stack Overflow
java - Missing .classpath file in Eclipse project - Stack Overflow
Adding a library to .classpath file in Eclipse
Videos
I just started learning Java so we have a study group where we are supposed to create a simple desktop application using Eclipse IDE and WindowBuilder.
I created the base project and then proceeded to push it to the shared repository. The rest of the people in the team tried executing the base project without success, while I could run it without any issues.
After a while, one of the members realized there is a problem with the classpatch file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<classpath> <classpathentry kind="src" path="src"/> <classpathentry kind="con" path="org.eclipse.jdt.launching.JRE\_CONTAINER"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/com.ibm.icu\_74.2.0.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/com.ibm.icu\_74.2.0.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/jakarta.annotation-api\_2.1.1.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/jakarta.annotation-api\_2.1.1.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.core.commands\_3.12.0.v20240214-1640.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.core.commands\_3.12.0.v20240214-1640.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.core.runtime\_3.31.0.v20240215-1631.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.core.runtime\_3.31.0.v20240215-1631.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.e4.ui.di\_1.5.300.v20240116-1723.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.e4.ui.di\_1.5.300.v20240116-1723.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.common\_3.19.0.v20240214-0846.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.common\_3.19.0.v20240214-0846.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.registry\_3.12.0.v20240213-1057.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.registry\_3.12.0.v20240213-1057.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.jface\_3.33.0.v20240214-1640.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.jface\_3.33.0.v20240214-1640.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.jface.text\_3.25.0.v20240207-1054.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.jface.text\_3.25.0.v20240207-1054.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.osgi\_3.19.0.v20240213-1246.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.osgi\_3.19.0.v20240213-1246.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.swt.gtk.linux.x86\_64\_3.125.0.v20240227-1638.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.swt.gtk.linux.x86\_64\_3.125.0.v20240227-1638.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.text\_3.14.0.v20240207-1054.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.text\_3.14.0.v20240207-1054.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.ui.forms\_3.13.200.v20240108-1539.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.ui.forms\_3.13.200.v20240108-1539.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.ui.workbench\_3.131.100.v20240221-2107.jar" sourcepath="/snap/eclipse/85/plugins/org.eclipse.ui.workbench\_3.131.100.v20240221-2107.jar"/> <classpathentry kind="output" path="bin"/> </classpath>
This is making reference to several libs which exist only in my notebok, where I am using Ubuntu. They are trying to run it in Windows.
Is it not kind of stupid to refer to these libs this way? I am still trying to understanc why Java would make reference to these libs assuming all of us would be using Ubuntu? Nobody else in my team has the snap folder :/
Could you please help me understand what is going on? How can we fix it?
I tried looking for some videos explaining the classpath file but no luck so far.
Thank you :(
Just to add. If you right-click on an eclipse project and select Properties, select the Java Build Path link on the left. Then select the Source Tab. You'll see a list of all the java source folders. You can even add your own. By default the {project}/src folder is the classpath folder.
One option is to place your properties file in the src/ directory of your project. This will copy it to the "classes" (along with your .class files) at build time. I often do this for web projects.
Eclipse is a runtime environment for plugins. Virtually everything you see in Eclipse is the result of plugins installed on Eclipse, rather than Eclipse itself.
The .project file is maintained by the core Eclipse platform, and its goal is to describe the project from a generic, plugin-independent Eclipse view. What's the project's name? what other projects in the workspace does it refer to? What are the builders that are used in order to build the project? (remember, the concept of "build" doesn't pertain specifically to Java projects, but also to other types of projects)
The .classpath file is maintained by Eclipse's JDT feature (feature = set of plugins). JDT holds multiple such "meta" files in the project (see the .settings directory inside the project); the .classpath file is just one of them. Specifically, the .classpath file contains information that the JDT feature needs in order to properly compile the project: the project's source folders (that is, what to compile); the output folders (where to compile to); and classpath entries (such as other projects in the workspace, arbitrary JAR files on the file system, and so forth).
Blindly copying such files from one machine to another may be risky. For example, if arbitrary JAR files are placed on the classpath (that is, JAR files that are located outside the workspace and are referred-to by absolute path naming), the .classpath file is rendered non-portable and must be modified in order to be portable. There are certain best practices that can be followed to guarantee .classpath file portability.
Complete reference is not available for the mentioned files, as they are extensible by various plug-ins.
Basically, .project files store project-settings, such as builder and project nature settings, while .classpath files define the classpath to use during running. The classpath files contains src and target entries that correspond with folders in the project; the con entries are used to describe some kind of "virtual" entries, such as the JVM libs or in case of eclipse plug-ins dependencies (normal Java project dependencies are displayed differently, using a special src entry).
I had the same problem. I had just setup a new PC, I transferred my projects to the new PC, clicked on the workspace directory, and changed the permission so that I (the 'me' on my new PC) owned all the files in all all sub-directories. However, even after doing this, eclipse couldn't write to the .classpath files. I verified that I could write to them using notepad, and that worked fine. I also verified that the O/S knew I was really the owner, but it didn't help. I also tried running as admin, but that didn't help either.
Then I found this link: http://blog.ryanrampersad.com/2010/03/03/setting-build-path-has-encountered-a-problem-in-eclipse/, which indicates that when you copy files to a windows7 machine, windows may set the 'hidden' attribute on the file, and when this happens, eclipse can't work with it. I did a find files from the workspace directory, looking for '.project' (and subsequently '.classpath'), and selected all the files, right-clicked, and un-checked the 'hidden' attribute. This fixed my problem.
The .classpath file in eclipse is a configuration file (in XML) which stores the project classpath properties. If it can't be written, perhaps it's an access problem. Right-click the file in windows explorer and check under the security tab to see if you have write permissions. You may have to run Eclipse as administrator.