Handle With Linux

installing Eclipse 3.4 in ubuntu with the google app engine sdk plugin.

cheap Java hosting

I've been hoping for a cheap Java hosting solution for years, as I feel Java programming is the most joyous experience. Especially thanks to the terrific API documentation. Today it was in the news google has added Java as a programming environment for it's app engine online application platform. And it is free, free within limits but it doesn't seem to me I'm going to get past their limits quickly as resources you can freely use are enough for 6 million monthly visits. If I get that kind of attention I will gladly pay the 10 cent a Gig transfer rate.

To good to be true?

It almost sounds to good to be true, but hey so does unlimited email storage for free and as the limits of my Gmail account grow faster than the spammers can fill it up, that's practically a reality. I have been quite skeptic about all this cloud application stuff and I still think it's not going to replace the desktop any time soon, but I have to say: It looks very promising.

Installation difficulties

I did encounter some difficulties installing the SDK plugin in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope as the plugin is not available for the default version of eclipse which is in the ubuntu repositories. Luckily the installation of Eclipse 3.4 Ganymede in Ubuntu is child's play. It comes down to downloading and unpacking the tarbal and that's it.

download it here:

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/

I downloaded and unpacked it in a subdirectory of my home directory as I already had the default eclipse installed and I wanted to test the installation at first. So after unpacking with tar xzf eclipse.xxxx.tar.gz just navigate to the eclipse directory and execute with ./eclipse

If you like me have this as a second install, choose a different workspace as things might get messed up.

That's all.

Installing the App Engine development plugin in Eclipse

Installing the SDK is another no-brainer:

goto help

software updates..

available software tab

add site

and add this url:

http://dl.google.com/eclipse/plugin/3.4

to the location field

ok

refresh

and mark google update site for eclipse

that's all

The only thing I encountered was when I tried to run the default project it was missing a library libstdc++.so.5

sudo apt-get install libstdc++5

and it works like a charm

don't forget to run the project as a web application

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