Let’s face it, if you’re reading this article, you know what Eclipse is, and what you’re trying to do.  Follow the jump for how to do it. First, install Sun’s Java 6 jdk, and Eclipse: sudo apt-get install eclipse sun-java6-jdk

Now, set up the newly installed jdk as the system default: sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-6-sun

Next, set your default jvm: sudo vim /etc/jvm

and add this line at the top of the file: /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun

Now, that should do the trick, but the Eclipse packaged with Ubuntu is packaged to prefer GCJ.  Let’s fix that: sudo vim /etc/eclipse/java_home

and again add this line at the top of the file: /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun

Finally, while you’re at it, bump up your Xms here: sudo vim /usr/lib/eclipse/eclipse.ini