On installing Eclipse under Debian

Eclipse is installed using just apt-get install eclipse. However, the SUN Java it needs has to be installed by downloading it separately, and using "java-package" and fakeroot to create a package, like this: fakeroot make-jpkg jre-1_5_0_03-linux-i586.bin. The created package can then be installed. This is all documented nicely here. Under 64-bit linux, using Debian Etch, once Eclipse starts, it doesn't find the java vm because it doesn't search in the /usr/lib64 tree. Add a line reading /usr/lib64/j2re1.5-sun to /etc/eclipse/java_home and it will be found.