Unexpacting error in eclipse on startup: "Unable to acquire application service"

Here is what I got from the Eclipse log when trying to start Eclipse on Ubuntu 10.10:

My exact Eclipse version is: to be filled by the OP
My JDK version used to launched Eclipse is: to be filled by the OP

The log:

!SESSION 2011-07-11 11:25:12.125 -----------------------------------------------
eclipse.buildId=unknown
java.version=1.6.0_24
java.vendor=Sun Microsystems Inc.
BootLoader constants: OS=linux, ARCH=x86, WS=gtk, NL=en_US
Framework arguments:  -product org.eclipse.epp.package.java.product
Command-line arguments:  -os linux -ws gtk -arch x86 -product org.eclipse.epp.package.java.product

!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 4 0 2011-07-11 11:25:14.306
!MESSAGE Application error
!STACK 1
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Unable to acquire application service. Ensure that the org.eclipse.core.runtime bundle is resolved and started (see config.ini).
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:74)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:344)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:179)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:622)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:577)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1410)

Do you have seen that error before, and how would you troubleshoot it?

Solution

If this is like bug 223756, it could be related to where Eclipse has been installed.

May be your crash relate to read-only installation? (bug 216066, bug 225257)

Yes, that sounds reasonable. My eclipse installation resides in /opt/eclipse, where a 'normal' user doesn't have write access..