I attempted to install PyDev running Eclipse as my usual user. This failed with errors about not being able to write to the file system, so I restarted Eclipse as root and followed the usual steps: Help -> Add Software. This instance of Eclipse already had the Perl dev add-on that has worked for years, in case this is relevant.
I have tried what is in "Unable to acquire application service" error while launching Eclipse.
This is running in a VM running an Ubuntu 16.04 guest OS with 4.15.0-43-generic Linux kernel.
java -version
openjdk version "1.8.0_191"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_191-8u191-b12-2ubuntu0.16.04.1-b12)
OpenJDK Server VM (build 25.191-b12, mixed mode)
Here is the log when I try to run Eclipse and run ./eclipse -clean
!SESSION 2019-02-04 15:40:35.236 -----------------------------------------------
eclipse.buildId=4.4.2.M20150204-1700
java.version=1.8.0_191
java.vendor=Oracle Corporation
BootLoader constants: OS=linux, ARCH=x86, WS=gtk, NL=en_AU
Framework arguments: -product org.eclipse.epp.package.standard.product
Command-line arguments: -os linux -ws gtk -arch x86 -product org.eclipse.epp.package.standard.product
!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 4 0 2019-02-04 15:40:36.962
!MESSAGE Application error
!STACK 1
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Unable to acquire application service. Ensure that the org.eclipse.core.runtime bundle is resolved and started (see config.ini).
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:78)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:380)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:235)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:648)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:603)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1465)
