imported guava source code in eclipse is not runnable

I need to write some Unit-Tests for google guava 15 (for an online course). There is a semi-automatic tool involved that reads the source code and executes it with the help of eclipse. So I need readable source code (not only the binary classes) that can be run from within an unittest.

So here is what I did:

cloned github repo via egit
Import from git -> local repository -> general project (I tryed new java project and the new project wizard but that created empty folders, only with general project the source was at least visible within eclipse)
went back in git history to guava version 15

But it seems that he doesn't build the java project now (of course because its a general project). I found some answers to this topic: editing the .project from eclipse to change the general to a java project but that did not work, maybe I did it wrong).

But is there an easy way to do this? Maybe by using a build tool or something? Seems to be very complicated to edit the .project for a complex project like guava, only telling him that this is a java project does not work!?

Solution

This is somewhat detailed answer on how to get a Maven project in Eclipse working and manage it by EGit. It describes almost the same situation.