Overwrite jar files when re-installing and eclipse plugin

Question

I am developing an eclipse plugin and facing a deployment problem:

After zipping the whole eclipse plugin and installing it on eclipse using Help--> Install New Software--> from archive file, once I would like to uninstall it through Help --> About Eclipse Platform --> Installation Details --> Installed Software --> Uninstall..., the old jar files will remain under eclipse/plugins folder. And when I try to install a new version of the eclipse plugin, the previous jar files are not overwritten by the new ones.

Is anything wrong within my process? does anyone has an idea about deploying eclipse plugins properly? thanks!!!

Answer 1

To get rid of the old plugins you have to clear the Installation History. Go to Help | About Eclipse | Installation Details | Installation History and select all the old stuff. Then click delete and restart. Now install the new plugin.

The other way to achieve this is by copying the corresponding directory (or jar) from the source eclipse install plugins/ or/and features/ directory to the target eclipse install plugin/ or/and features/ directory