How to configure Eclipse to compile and debug SIP Communicator

Eclipse is an open source project. Crucially, part of the base code in the IDE is platform-dependent (called the SWT). If you are lucky to run a supported platform (*nix or windows), it is a feature-rich, stable IDE. You can get the latest version from http://www.eclipse.org.

Configure Eclipse for SIP Communicator (hide)

First things first

To be able to get the source of SIP Communicator, you have to:

  • Have an account at java.net
  • Have joined the project with observer rights or higher

Getting the source

‘’Note: This document describes the process for Eclipse 3.X.. If your Eclipse version does not include the Subclipse plugin (The Subversion plugin for Eclipse), you may need to install it.

  • Install Subclipse plugin

There are currently 2 versions of Subclipse and you should use the latest for retrieving SIP Communicator files. However, if you try to directly install this one you will run into somme issues about Eclipse asking you to install other plugins (e.g buckminster) to make it work.

This problem may be avoided by installing the earlier Subclipse and then by updating it to the latest version. Here are the steps you should follow:

1. visit the Subclipse installation site - http://subclipse.tigris.org/install.html and choose the URL below when creating new Remote installation site:


Name: Subclipse 1.0.x (Eclipse 3.0/3.1)
URL: http://subclipse.tigris.org/update_1.0.x


2. After successfully installing it, from the Help menu, select Software updates and then click on Manage configuration.



3. In the left panel Eclipse displays all the installed features. Choose Subclipse and then click on Scan for updates in the right panel.



4. Eclipse will search for newer versions of Subclipse and will supply the one needed for SIP Communicator; proceed in the same manner as you did when installing Subclipse 1.0.



  • Start Eclipse
    From the File menu select New and then click on Project


  • Click Next. The Select a wizard screen appears
    Unfold SVN and then select Checkout Projects from SVN


  • Click Next. The Create location screen appears
    Select Create a new repository location


  • Click Next. The Accept Digital Certificate screen appears


  • Click Accept Temporarily or Accept Permanently. The Check Out screen appears
    Select the first folder in the tree.


  • Click Next. The Check Out As screen appears
    Select Check out as a project in the workspace
    Enter sip-communicator as a project name.


  • Click Finish.. and wait (it takes a while to download all libraries)


Setting up Eclipse for SIP Communicator

  • Copy the files .project and .classpath from PROJECT_DIR/ide/eclipse to PROJECT_DIR
Note for UNIX/Linux users : remember files starting with a dot (.) can be hidden by default. So if you don’t see those two files, do not panic. It don’t means they aren’t there. Just use the appropriate option of your explorer to show hidden files or ls -a to display them in the console.
  • Right button click on the project in the Package explorer and select Refresh.
  • Done.

Earlier than Eclipse 3.3 version

  • Edit your build path. Remove the ant-library and add a new entry for the previous location of the ant-library. “Add Variable”, extend “ECLIPSE_HOME” and search the ant library. Usually it is ECLIPSE_HOME/plugins/org.apache.ant_1.6.5/lib/ant.jar

Run Ant through Eclipse

Eclipse has an integrated Ant plug-in, which allows you to run all Ant targets within the IDE. You could use this functionality in two ways. You could use the Ant view from (Window→Show view→Ant) to which you can drag-and-drop the build.xml. Or you could use the Outline view to browse the targets just when the build.xml file is open in the editor.

In order to compile the project you need to run the rebuild target. In order to run the project you need the run target. When building the first time or after calling clean the target -deploy-os-specific-bundles has to be called to deploy all bundles, which are specific for your operating system. If no os-specific bundles have been deployed, SIP Communicator may not start, or certain features (e.g. the System-Tray Icon on MS-Windows) will not be available.

Configure Run and Debug through Eclipse

  • Open the Run Configuration Window in Eclipse.
  • Click the "New" button to create a new run configuration. In the right panel of the new configuration enter the name of your project and enter the net.java.sip.communicator.launcher.SIPCommunicator as a project Main class.


  • In the "Arguments" tab of the configuration add the following two arguments in the section "VM Arguments":
-Dfelix.config.properties=file:lib/felix.client.run.properties
-Djava.util.logging.config.file=lib/logging.properties
  • If you want to debug the program internationalized, then add your language settings into the "Program Arguments". Note: Currently available languages are English, German and Bulgarian. For the complete list have a look in the package net.java.sip.communicator.impl.gui.i18n


  • In the "Environment" tab of the configuration add a new variable called path and let it point to the system path and additionally to the library path for your system. For Windows this is
    • %path%;./lib/native/windows.


  • Note that even you run the project through Eclipse/Run you have to run 'ant rebuild' before in order to compile it.

Original Author: Brian Burch
Update: Alexander Pelov
Update: Yana Stamcheva
Update: Thomas Hofer