Preferences broken

[Syntonica]

Mac Intel, Big Sur 11.7.10, Java 17 (Zulu) openjdk version "17.0.11" 2024-04-16 LTS, F4 1.1.8

The Preferences window opens, but lack any buttons. Selecting any iten on the left results in
'Refresh Filter' has encountered a problem. The Details >> button is non-functional, so I have nothing more to give.

Also, the Select a directory as Workspace query keeps repeating on start up, despite checking the magic Use this as default and do not ask again checkbox. I seem to remember this error from Eclipse yonks ago.

I'd use anolder version, but my poor eyes require dark mode. Thanks.

Edit: I just noticed the note about JVM8 in the notes, so I changed over to OpenJDK Runtime Environment (Zulu 8.78.0.19-CA-macosx) (build 1.8.0_412-b08) and am now getting therror Failed to create the JVM.

[SlimerDude]

Hi, I've not noticed any of those errors... 🤔

But do try with a Java 8 or Java 11 JDK - I've encountered other build issues with later JDK versions.

Failing that, F4 1.1.6 is very stable and has dark mode also.

[Syntonica]

I tried with JDK11. It opened, but same issue with the Preferences window. I'll give 1.1.6 a try...

As an aside, which jar file is the entry point for F4/Eclipse? I would like to avoid the run stub altogether if I can for better/easier testing.

BTW, thanks for your work on this. Modern Eclipse is ridiculously bloated and ugly.

[SlimerDude]

which jar file is the entry point for F4/Eclipse?

Um, I wouldn't know how to work around it, but the F4.ini says it is:

plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.5.100.v20180827-1352.jar

BTW, thanks for your work on this.

Why, thank you!

[Syntonica]

I'm afraid 1.1.6 also fails, as does Java 17.

However, it appears to be the Mac Java stub causing some of the issue. By bypassing it and using
java -jar -XstartOnFirstThread plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.5.100.v20180827-1352.jar
I was able to launch from Java 8 and get more of the full GUI. There's things there on the General pane, but they're drawn white on white, so I can't read anything. I tried poking around and found some checkboxes that show blue when checked. :D But they didn't help. :( Java 11 gave the same result and Java 17 is beyond broken here.

Anyway, I think the old Eclipse Mac support just suffers from bitrot. Next to the JAR file mentioned above, there's an org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.cocoa.macosx.x86_64_1.1.800.v20180827-1352 folder with a special .so library file, but I'm unsure when it gets called and what it's supposed to do.

There is a script version of the Java Stub running around somewhere that I might try hacking in. If I had Mojave (with32-bit support), it might run proper. Unfortunately, Big Sur is as old as I can go anymore.