Linked resources

Linked resources are files and folders that are stored in locations in the file system outside of the project's location. These special resources can be used to add files and folders to your project that for some reason must be stored in a certain place outside of your project. For example, a linked folder can be used to store build output separately from your source files.

You can even use linked resources to overlap other resources in the workspace, so resources from one project can appear in another project. If you do want to have overlapping resources in your workspace, do so with caution. Keep in mind that this means changing a resource in one place will cause simultaneous changes in the duplicate resource. Deleting one duplicate resource will delete both!

Deleting a linked resource will not cause the corresponding resource in the file system to be deleted. However, deleting child resources of linked folders will cause them to be removed from the file system.

Linked resource target paths can be either defined as absolute paths, or relative to a path variable.

The linked resource target path can be changed by selecting the Edit... button in the File > Properties > Resource property page of the linked resource.

A list of all linked resources that exist in a project can be seen and edited from the File > Properties > Resource > Linked Resources property page, under the Linked Resources tab.

Some plug-ins built on top of the Eclipse platform are not compatible with linked resources. If this is the case, you can completely disable the linked resource feature to prevent them from being created in your workspace. Linked resources can be disabled from the General > Workspace > Linked Resources preference page. Certain types of projects or team repository providers may also disallow linked resources from being created in some projects.