Yocto 2.4 provides Eclipse Yocto plugins for three different Eclipse versions: Mars, Neon and Oxygen. They can be downloaded at http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/releases/yocto/yocto-2.4/eclipse-plugin/. We will use Oxygen, but the instructions are compatible with all versions. We will start with the Eclipse IDE for C/C++ developers and install all the required plugins we need.

It is recommended to run Eclipse under Oracle Java 1.8, although other Java providers are supported. You can install Oracle Java 1.8 from Oracle's web site, https://www.java.com/en/, or using a Ubuntu Java Installer PPA, https://launchpad.net/~webupd8team/+archive/ubuntu/java. The latter will integrate Java with your package management system, so it's preferred. To install it, follow these steps:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer

You can verify Java is correctly installed by doing the following:

$ java -version 
java version "1.8.0_144"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_144-b01)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.144-b01, mixed mode)

To download and install the Eclipse Oxygen IDE for C/C++ developers for an x86_64 Linux host, follow these steps:

1. Fetch the tarball from the Eclipse download site, http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/release/Oxygen/1A. For example:

$ wget -O eclipse-cpp-oxygen-1a-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz "http://mirror.kumi.systems/eclipse/technology/epp/downloads/release/oxygen/1a/eclipse-cpp-oxygen-1a-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz"

2. Unpack it to a location of your choice, as follows:

$ tar xvf  eclipse-cpp-neon-3-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz

3. Start the Eclipse IDE with the following:

$ nohup eclipse/eclipse &

4. Close the Welcome tab and select Install New Software from the Help pull-down menu. Then, select the Oxygen http://download.eclipse.org/releases/oxygen source.
5. Install the following Eclipse components:

• Mobile and device development:
  • C/C++ Remote (Over TCF/TE) Run/Debug Launcher
  • Remote System Explorer User Actions
  • TM Terminal via Remote System Explorer add-in
  • TCF Remote System Explorer add-in
  • TCF Target Explorer
• Programming languages:
  • C/C++ Development Tools SDK

6. Install the Eclipse Yocto plugin by adding this repository source: http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/releases/eclipse-plugin/2.4/oxygen, as shown in the following screenshot:

7. Choose the Yocto Project SDK plug-in option.

Finally, make sure all the components are up-to-date by checking the Help | Check for Updates menu option.