Eclipse's local history...where are files saved?

eclipse flexbuilder history local
jim picture jim · Jun 9, 2009 · Viewed 35.9k times · Source

Can someone explain how Eclipse's local history works?

I accidentally overwrote a file in a project but need to revert to an earlier version. Is there a chance that Eclipse has the older file cached somewhere?

Answer

VonC picture VonC · Jun 9, 2009

To complete CurtainDog's answer: from eclipse FAQ

Every time you modify a file in Eclipse, a copy of the old contents is kept in the local history. At any time, you can compare or replace a file with any older version from the history.
Although this is no replacement for a real code repository, it can help you out when you change or delete a file by accident.
Local history also has an advantage that it wasn’t really designed for: The history can also help you out when your workspace has a catastrophic problem or if you get disk errors that corrupt your workspace files.
As a last resort, you can manually browse the local history folder to find copies of the files you lost, which is a bit like using Google’s cache to browse Web pages that no longer exist.

Each file revision is stored in a separate file with a random file name inside the history folder. The path of the history folder inside your workspace is

.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.core.resources/.history/

You can use your operating system’s search tool to locate the files you are looking for.

Note, if your need to import your local history into a new workspace, you will need both:

  • .metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.core.resources/.history
  • .metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.core.resources/.project

to have a functional local history in that new workspace.

Related questions

Failed to connect to remote VM. Connection refused. when trying to debug remote java application in Flash Builder 4.7

At one point, the remote debug used to work. But for the life of me, I don't seem to be able to figure out what broke it. I have a flex/Java application. There is a wrapper that starts the …

Read More
Flex eclipse plugin isn't it free?

Eclipse is free , flex sdk is free. Is not the eclipse plugin for flex free?

Read More
Easiest way to Filter Eclipse Console Output text

I'm asking this in relation to Flex Builder, but it might apply to Eclipse in general. Trace statements in Flex Builder get sent to an Eclipse Output Console. What is the easiest way to filter this text on the Eclipse …

Read More