Modify heap size for Eclipse on OSX

I recently tried to load a sample IRS 1120 tax return in XML format (Example_TransmissionWithConsolidatedReturn.xml in their schema distribution) into the Eclipse XML editor. I shouldn’t need to tell you that the IRS schemas are quite complex. The “simple” return was over 12MB! After a lot of heaving, Eclipse just punted and complained about running out of heap space. So, how do you increase the amount of heap space that Eclipse uses? This is different from the amount of heap space that your application uses.

On Linux and that Microsoft virus Petri dish you simply edit eclipse.ini in the Eclipse installation directory.
For OSX it is slightly more complex. In the Finder navigate to the Eclipse installation. You will see Eclipse.app. Right click on the app and choose “Show package contents”.

Then navigate to Contents/MacOS to find eclipse.ini. Now you can edit your preferred heap size. In my case I increased the max heap size: -Xmx1024m