Eclipse – Unable to install breakpoint due to missing line number attributes

breakpointsdebuggingeclipse

I am getting this strange error in Eclipse while trying to set a breakpoint.

Unable to insert breakpoint Absent Line Number Information

I ticked the checkbox from Compiler options but no luck.

Best Answer

I had the same error message in Eclipse 3.4.1, SUN JVM1.6.0_07 connected to Tomcat 6.0 (running in debug-mode on a different machine, Sun JVM1.6.0_16, the debug connection did work correctly).

Window --> Preferences --> Java --> Compiler --> Classfile Generation: "add line number attributes to generated class file" was checked. I did a clean, recompile. I did uncheck it, recompile, check it, recompile. I made sure the project did use the global settings. Still the same message.

I switched to ant build, using

<javac srcdir="./src/java" destdir="./bin" debug="true">

Still, same message.

I didn't find out what caused this message and why it wouldn't go away. Though it seemed to have something to do with the running Tomcat debug session: when disconnected, recompiling solves the issue. But on connecting the debugger to Tomcat or on setting new breakpoints during a connected debug session, it appeared again.

However, it turned out the message was wrong: I was indeed able to debug and set breakpoints, both before and during debugging (javap -l did show line numbers, too). So just ignore it :)