Eclipse import project error, overlaps workspace location

Question

I have a big project that I want to import to Eclipse, but everytime I do that I get:

Invalid project description.
  D:\\svn\\myproject\\vr overlaps the work         


        

Answer 1

I came upon this today but did not see any answers here that addressed my particular issue. I had copied the contents of my project directly into the workspace (e.g. the src, res, Manifest, etc). You must put your project files into a directory of their own (look in .project and see the exact naming). Create your project directory and move your files into it and you can now import your project into the workspace.

Answer 2

Use another EMPTY (thus clean) directory for your clean workspace. Eclipse doesn't require projects to be IN the workspace directory.

Answer 3

I encountered this same problem:

• I had a project directory called "demo1".
• I created a new workspace using that same "demo1" directory as the workspace root directory.
• When I went to import that project directory (which was the same as my root workspace directory), I got the "overlaps the workspace" error.

I'm using "Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers, Version: Indigo Service Release 2"

My solution:

• Exit Eclipse
• Delete the .metadata directory (this is created each time you start Eclipse) from inside my workspace directory ("demo1").
• Create a new directory called "demo1" within the existing "demo1" directory. So now I have "demo1/demo1".
• Move all the existing files and directories in my existing project, plus the .cproject and .project files (and the .settings directory if it exists), into that new "demo1" subdirectory.
• Restart Eclipse, and select the original "demo1" directory as my workspace.
• Go to File->Import, select "General" and "Existing projects into workspace". Click Next.
• Select the new "demo1" subdirectory as the project I wanted to import into my workspace.
• Make sure "Copy projects into workspace" is not checked.
• Click Finish, and it worked. Project builds.

FYI.

Eclipse creates a .metadata directory, a .cproject file, and a .project file (and sometimes a .settings directory). You need the .cproject and .project file, and the .settings directory if it exists. The .metadata directory is a temporary directory which Eclipse creates or updates each time it is opened. It can be deleted without any effect.