Eclipse 4.26 Released: Java 19 Support and New Refactoring Features

Eclipse 4.26 (2022‑12) is now officially released.

Download the release at https://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/downloads/drops4/R-4.26-202211231800/ and view the full changelog at https://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/news/4.26/.

Upgrade existing installations (not recommended in production) via https://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/updates/4.26/ and use the specific repository https://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/updates/4.26/R-4.26-202211231800/ for building.

Equinox packages are available at https://download.eclipse.org/equinox/drops/R-4.26-202211231800/.

Key highlights

Java 19 support – JDT now supports Java 19, including preview features such as Record Patterns (JEP 405), Pattern Matching for Switch (JEP 427), Virtual Threads (JEP 425), and Structured Concurrency (JEP 428). These features remain in preview.

New class‑related helper functions (illustrated below).

Improved “Extract Local Variable” refactoring – the refactoring now detects cases where extracting a variable could introduce a NullPointerException and adjusts the code so that null checks occur before the variable declaration.

Example: extracting s.length() from a null‑checked string results in the null check being moved before the new local variable, preventing a potential exception.

For more details see https://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/news/4.26/jdt.php.