View source for FAQ Why doesn't my plug-in build correctly?

It is important to realize that a plug-in consists of a manifest description  written in XML and an independent implementation written in Java. The <tt>plugin.xml</tt> file defines the prerequisite plug-ins and effectively defines the  classpath for your own plug-in classes. A typical build problem is caused by a change to the build classpath, often indirectly owing to a change to the <tt>plugin.xml</tt> file. This may happen when you extract a plug-in out of CVS,  for instance. The classpath settings are copied from the CVS repository but were put there by someone who may have had a different installation location for Eclipse. Be careful, as the classpath consists mainly  of hard-coded file system locations. 

To recompute the classpath, use the context menu on your project: '''PDE Tools &gt; Update Classpath'''. This will instruct PDE to look at your <tt>plugin.xml</tt> file and  construct a build classpath specific to your Eclipse installation and workspace contents.

If your plug-in relies on other broken plug-ins in your workspace, your plug-in may not be able to build itself. Start with the offending plug-in and work your way up the dependency hierarchy to find the problem. When all else fails,  try '''Project &gt;Clean...''' to force everything to be rebuilt from scratch.

== See Also: ==
*[[FAQ How do I set up a Java project to share in a repository?]]
*[[FAQ What is the classpath of a plug-in?]]

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