How to use variables for classpath definition in Eclipse launch configurations?

Question

In our project we use Eclipse launch configurations which are under version control to be shared with all developers. Now it is necessary to include an external archive to a launch configuration file's classpath. Fortunately the required archive is in every developer's local Maven repository.

I already found out that there is a classpath variable called M2_REPO which references to the local Maven repository (being valid for any developer).

But how to use this variable in the following classpath definition to replace the absolute path?

<listAttribute key="org.eclipse.jdt.launching.CLASSPATH">
    ...
    <listEntry value="&lt;?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;UTF-8&quot;?&gt;&lt;runtimeClasspathEntry externalArchive=&quot;C:/Dokumente und Einstellungen/050967/.m2/repository/com/google/gwt/gwt-dev/2.0.3/gwt-dev-2.0.3.jar&quot; path=&quot;3&quot; type=&quot;2&quot;/&gt;"/>
    ...
</listAttribute>

Or is there a way to include an environment variable (e.g. Windows' %USERPROFILE% could help)?

Answer 1

Edit your launch configuration. Go to the "classpath" tab. Focus on "User Entries". Click the "Advanced" button.

• To add an entry based on a classpath variable, select Add classpath variable and click OK. A dialog will open. Focus on M2_REPO and click the "Extend" button. Select your JAR file.
• To add an entry based on a system environment variable, select Add variable string, and in the editbox below, type: ${env_var:your-environment-variable-name}/path-to-jar. For example, if your system environment variable is MYVAR and the JAR file is under subdir/myfile.jar, you should type ${env_var:MYVAR}/subdir/myfile.jar.

Answer 2

You could load that value from maven properties.

Maven stores repository path in maven.repo.local property.

Place ${maven.repo.local} into your configuration file.

<listAttribute key="org.eclipse.jdt.launching.CLASSPATH">
    ...
    <listEntry value="&lt;?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;UTF-8&quot;?&gt;&lt;runtimeClasspathEntry externalArchive=&quot;${${maven.repo.local}}/com/google/gwt/gwt-dev/2.0.3/gwt-dev-2.0.3.jar&quot; path=&quot;3&quot; type=&quot;2&quot;/&gt;"/>
    ...
</listAttribute>

Then setup filtering in pom.xml for your configuration file so ${maven.repo.local} will be replaced with property value.