I have the same problem. If I launch the command line manually (not using eclipse shell script), then eclipse starts properly:
/usr/lib/jvm/java-gcj/bin/java -Djava.library.path=/usr/lib/jni - Dgnu.gcj.precompiled.db.path=/var/lib/gcj-4.2/classmap.db \ - Dgnu.gcj.runtime.VMClassLoader.library_control=never -Dosgi.locking=none-jar /usr/lib/eclipse//usr/lib/eclipse/startup.jar \ -os linux -ws gtk -arch x86 -launcher /usr/lib/eclipse/eclipse -name Eclipse -showsplash 600 -exitdata 4230001 \ -install /usr/lib/eclipse -debug -vm /usr/lib/jvm/java-gcj/bin/java -vmargs -Djava.library.path=/usr/lib/jni \ - Dgnu.gcj.precompiled.db.path=/var/lib/gcj-4.2/classmap.db - Dgnu.gcj.runtime.VMClassLoader.library_control=never \ -Dosgi.locking=none -jar /usr/lib/eclipse//usr/lib/eclipse/startup.jar I have copied the /usr/lib/eclipse/startup.jar to /usr/lib/eclipse//usr/lib/eclipse/startup.jar: mkdir -p /usr/lib/eclipse//usr/lib/eclipse/ cp /usr/lib/eclipse/startup.jar /usr/lib/eclipse/usr/lib/eclipse/ -- Arie