Work on a remote project with Eclipse via SSH

The very simplest way would be to run Eclipse CDT on the Linux Box and use either X11-Forwarding or remote desktop software such as VNC.

This, of course, is only possible when you Eclipse is present on the Linux box and your network connection to the box is sufficiently fast.

The advantage is that, due to everything being local, you won't have synchronization issues, and you don't get any awkward cross-platform issues.

If you have no eclipse on the box, you could thinking of sharing your linux working directory via SMB (or SSHFS) and access it from your windows machine, but that would require quite some setup.

Both would be better than having two copies, especially when it's cross-platform.


Try the Remote System Explorer (RSE). It's a set of plug-ins to do exactly what you want.

RSE may already be included in your current Eclipse installation. To check in Eclipse Indigo go to Window > Open Perspective > Other... and choose Remote System Explorer from the Open Perspective dialog to open the RSE perspective.

To create an SSH remote project from the RSE perspective in Eclipse:

  1. Define a new connection and choose SSH Only from the Select Remote System Type screen in the New Connection dialog.
  2. Enter the connection information then choose Finish.
  3. Connect to the new host. (Assumes SSH keys are already setup.)
  4. Once connected, drill down into the host's Sftp Files, choose a folder and select Create Remote Project from the item's context menu. (Wait as the remote project is created.)

If done correctly, there should now be a new remote project accessible from the Project Explorer and other perspectives within eclipse. With the SSH connection set-up correctly passwords can be made an optional part of the normal SSH authentication process. A remote project with Eclipse via SSH is now created.