Eclipse Neon "Customize Perspective" raises "StackOverflowError",

Question

Eclipse "Configure Perspective" raises a "StackOverflowError" (see partial stack), the screen will never be displayed, and Eclipse may become unstable and may not start again.

This happens in the Spring Tool Suite (sts-3.8.3) based on Eclipse 4.6.2, running on Ubuntu 16.x (and possibly another Linux too).

How to unlock Eclipse and how to make the "User Perspective" work with this version?

stacktrace:

java.lang.StackOverflowError at org.eclipse.swt.events.ControlEvent.<init>(ControlEvent.java:35) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.TypedListener.handleEvent(TypedListener.java:225) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.EventTable.sendEvent(EventTable.java:84) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.sendEvent(Display.java:5227) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1340) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1366) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1345) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Control.setBounds(Control.java:1100) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite.setBounds(Composite.java:1527) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.ToolBar.setBounds(ToolBar.java:589) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Control.setLocation(Control.java:1187) at org.eclipse.e4.ui.widgets.ImageBasedFrame.setFramedControlLocation(ImageBasedFrame.java:124) at org.eclipse.e4.ui.widgets.ImageBasedFrame.access$0(ImageBasedFrame.java:120) at org.eclipse.e4.ui.widgets.ImageBasedFrame$4.controlMoved(ImageBasedFrame.java:109) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.TypedListener.handleEvent(TypedListener.java:225) (...) 

Answer 1

If Eclipse is locked, it is not recommended to delete the "writer.lock" file visible in the logs, you need to delete the "workbench.xmi" located in your workspace:

 <workspace_path>/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.e4.workbench/workbench.xmi 

(tip here: Eclipse Error (C / C ++): the job found is still running after the platform shuts down )

To turn on the Customize Perspective screen, you need to switch to GTK 2. To do this, simply edit your eclipse.ini (or STS.ini) and replace it:

 --launcher.defaultAction 

:

 --launcher.GTK_version 2