I have a frustrating issue where Eclipse (aka Spring Tool Suite flavor) falls into a strange build state that it can never complete or resolve. When the problem occurs, a cyclic state between multiple processes ensues. A common case is when the "Download Sources and JavaDocs" process runs every few seconds, dropping briefly into a "Sleeping" state to allow other processes to run, and then times out and restarts the process. This continues to repeat indefinitely. The switching from build to sleep modes perpetually occurs. These fighting processes will continue in this way for hours, if I let Eclipse continue, which also utilizes the CPU heavily throughout.
This unsettled state is often initiated when I perform a full clean and/or build of my project(s), whereas other times it happens when I include new Java Classes as required dependencies. Sometimes it gets going all on its own. Either way, Eclipse will vainly attempt to build the project(s) resources, and the project itself, and it will do so indefinitely without ever achieving a resolved state.
While there are a variety of combinations of these fighting / conflicting / deadlocked processes, I have noticed that it is often a "Building Workspace" process that frequently has issues. The build runs to around 85%, then suddenly sleeps while a "Download Sources" process appears and runs, after which the "Building Workspace" resumes once again... always starting over, and never quite building to completion. Always dropping into a sleep state when "Download Sources" runs.
When I grow weary of it, and wish to end it, I must either exit my IDE completely and restart, or I have to rapidly click the STOP button of the oscillating processes that that flash and disappear inconsistently in the progress view. It feels rather like playing a Whac-A-Mole carnival game of sorts, until I have successfully clicked them all. At that point, the processes cease to appear, and things run smoothly again for a time. This is NOT something that happens every time, but often enough to be a nuisance, and it interrupts productivity as it slows or blocks other processes, such as starting my project.
With previous builds of Eclipse on other machines, I never recall having this issue... at least not so persistently. And yet I have read similar issues in various forums (including Stack Overflow) going back for years.
Eclipse / Spring Tool Suite Version info
- STS Version: 3.9.4.RELEASE
- STS Build Id: 201804120921
- Platform: Eclipse Oxygen.3a (4.7.3a)
- HOST O.S.: Windows 10 - 64-bit edition
Here is what I have tried so far:
- I unchecked the "Refresh using native hooks or polling" and my problem has continued to occur for the past few months.
- I haven't moving the metadata folder out (article here) because I'm worried about wasting more time recovering if it goes wrong.
- Disabled certain Maven plugins and closed projects. It does seem to happen less frequently when I have only a single project open. However, in the world of cooperating services, it is often necessary to keep multiple projects open.
- Perhaps this is related more to the customized STS tooling (Spring Tool Suite) that has been applied over Eclipse, but because I'm not sure, I didn't Tag STS.
- This issue is very intermittent, but once it starts happening, I can't get around it.
