What should I set JAVA_HOME environment variable on macOS X 10.6?

Many Java applications that use shell scripts to configure their environment use the JAVA_HOME environment variable to start the correct version of Java, locate JRE JARs, and so on.

In macOS X 10.6, the following paths seem to be valid for this variable

/Library/Java/Home
/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Home
/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/Current

Some of these are symlinks to the actual current VM (as defined in the Java Preference pane).

But which one should be used—or is it okay to use any of them?

Solution 1:

I just set JAVA_HOME to the output of that command, which should give you the Java path specified in your Java preferences. Here's a snippet from my .bashrc file, which sets this variable:

export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)

I haven't experienced any problems with that technique.

Occasionally I do have to change the value of JAVA_HOME to an earlier version of Java. For example, one program I'm maintaining requires 32-bit Java 5 on OS X, so when using that program, I set JAVA_HOME by running:

export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.5)

For those of you who don't have java_home in your path add it like this.

sudo ln -s /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/Current/Commands/java_home /usr/libexec/java_home

References:

• Oracle explains the java_home command

• An article for configuring the JDK in Spring Tool Suite (Eclipse 2019) on MacOS

Solution 2:

Also, it`s interesting to set your PATH to reflect the JDK. After adding JAVA_HOME (which can be done with the example cited by 'mipadi'):

export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)

Add also in ~/.profile:

export PATH=${JAVA_HOME}/bin:$PATH

P.S.: For OSX, I generally use .profile in the HOME dir instead of .bashrc

Solution 3:

I am having MAC OS X(Sierra) 10.12.2.

I set JAVA_HOME to work on React Native(for Android apps) by following the following steps.

• Open Terminal (Command+R, type Terminal, Hit ENTER).

• Add the following lines to ~/.bash_profile. export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)

• Now run the following command. source ~/.bash_profile

• You can check the exact value of JAVA_HOME by typing the following command. echo $JAVA_HOME

The value(output) returned will be something like below. /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_131.jdk/Contents/Home

That's it.

Solution 4:

I'm on Mac OS 10.6.8

The easiest solution works for me is simply put in

$ export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)

To test whether it works, put in

$ echo $JAVA_HOME

it shows

/System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home

you can also test

$ which java

Solution 5:

Nowadays Java seems to be installed in /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines