Eclipse 4.2 (Juno) - Bugs

For the last couple of releases the Eclipse project has been working on two streams of development. 3.x uses the legacy workbench and has been the primary release train in past years. However, since Eclipse Helios (3.8) there has also been a second 4.x release train working on a new workbench framework. This has been delivering releases at the same time as 3.x (e.g. Helios (3.6/4.0), Indigo (3.7/4.1)).

This year Eclipse Juno (3.8/4.2) was released and for the first time the 4.x version was chosen to be the primary release and 3.8 is in theory the last 3.x release. Unfortunately my testing has quickly revealed some glaring bugs - basic elements of interacting with the workbench don't quite work correctly. I have raised five bugs and found one existing bug covering the key issues which I hit:

• 362420 - Make "Quick access" optional and hidden by default
• 386804 - The target area to DND Views and Editors into existing stacks is too small
• 386803 - Quick Access mishandles Home and End
• 386802 - DND of Views and Editors not working properly
• 386806 - New Eclipse Icon not used by Eclipse 4.2 on Windows 7
• 386817 - Customize Perspective Tool Bar Visibility appears broken in 4.2

Eclipse 4.2 also includes a new default theme (new and noteworthy, bug covering implementation) which I really dislike. A classic theme is included which makes Eclipse look much more like the previous 3.x releases but tediously you have to restart to fully apply a theme change despite Eclipse updating most elements dynamically and not warning that a restart is needed to fully apply the change (362522).

Eclipse 3.8 workbench:

 

Eclipse 4.2 workbench:

As a result of all of these issues I will be sticking to Eclipse 3.8 this year but I will keep an eye on future 4.x releases. The Eclipse 4.2 downloads are easy to find but there is only one 3.8 package available:

• 3.8 - http://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/downloads/drops/R-3.8-201206081200/
• 4.2 - http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/