Where is JAVA_HOME on macOS Mojave (10.14) to Lion (10.7)?

Question

Java is an optional package on the latest versions of macOS.

Yet once installed it appears like the JAVA_HOME environment variable is not set properly.

Answer 1

With the Java optional package or Oracle JDK installed, adding one of the following lines to your ~/.bash_profile file will set the environment variable accordingly.

export JAVA_HOME="$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.6)"
or
export JAVA_HOME="$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7)"
or
export JAVA_HOME="$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8)"
or simply
export JAVA_HOME="$(/usr/libexec/java_home)"

Note: If you installed openjdk on mac using brew, run sudo ln -sfn /usr/local/opt/openjdk/libexec/openjdk.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk.jdk for the above to work

Update: added -v flag based on Jilles van Gurp response.

Answer 2

/usr/libexec/java_home is not a directory but an executable. It outputs the currently configured JAVA_HOME and doesn't actually change it. That's what the Java Preferences app is for, which in my case seems broken and doesn't actually change the JVM correctly. It does list the 1.7 JVM but I can toggle/untoggle & drag and drop all I want there without actually changing the output of /usr/libexec/java_home.

Even after installing 1.7.0 u6 from Oracle on Lion and setting it as the default in the preferences, it still returned the apple 1.6 java home. The only fix that actually works for me is setting JAVA_HOME manually:

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_06.jdk/Contents/Home/

At least this way when run from the command line it will use 1.7. /usr/libexec/java_home still insists on 1.6.

Update: Understanding Java From Command Line on OSX has a better explanation on how this works.

export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7` 

is the way to do it. Note, updating this to 1.8 works just fine.

Answer 3

For me, Mountain Lion 10.8.2, the solution most voted does not work. I installed jdk 1.7 via Oracle and maven from homebrew.

My solution is from the hadoop-env.sh file of hadoop which I installed from homebrew, too. I add the below sentence in ~/.bash_profile, and it works.

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

This solution also works for OS X Yosemite with Java 1.8 installed from Oracle.

Answer 4

None of the above answers helped me. I suppose all the answers are for older OS X

For OS X Yosemite 10.10, follow these steps

Use your favorite text editor to open: ~/.bash_profile

//This command will open the file using vim
$ vim ~/.bash_profile

Add the following line in the file and save it ( : followed by "x" for vim):

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

Then in the terminal type the following two commands to see output:

$ source ~/.bash_profile

$ echo $JAVA_HOME

In the second line, you are updating the contents of .bash_profile file.

Answer 5

Update for Java 9 and some neat aliases.

In .bash_profile:

export JAVA_HOME8=`/usr/libexec/java_home --version 1.8`
export JAVA_HOME9=`/usr/libexec/java_home --version 9`

Note, that for the latest version it is 9 and not 1.9.

Set active Java:

export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME8
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

Some additional alias to switch between the different versions:

alias j8='export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME8; export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH'
alias j9='export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME9; export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH'

Test in terminal:

% j8
% java -version
java version "1.8.0_121"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_121-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.121-b13, mixed mode)
% j9
% java -version
java version "9"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 9+181)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 9+181, mixed mode)

EDIT: Update for Java 10

export JAVA_HOME10=`/usr/libexec/java_home --version 10`
alias j10='export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME10; export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH'

EDIT: Update for Java 11

export JAVA_HOME11=`/usr/libexec/java_home --version 11`
alias j11='export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME11; export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH'

Answer 6

The above didn't work for me with Amazon's EC2 tools, because it expects bin/java etc. underneath JAVA_HOME. /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Home did work.

Answer 7

For OS X you can do:

export JAVA_HOME=`/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/Current/Commands/java_home`

Answer 8

On Mac OS X Lion, to set visualgc to run, I used:

export JAVA_HOME=/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6.0/Home

Answer 9

The following worked for me. I'm using ZSH on OSX Yosemite with Java 8 installed.

The following command /usr/libexec/java_home emits the path to JDK home:

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_05.jdk/Contents/Home

In your ~/.zshrc,

export JAVA_HOME = "/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_05.jdk/Contents/Home"

Answer 10

for macOS Mojave 10.14.1 and JAVA 11.0.1 I set the profile as

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

key in terminal this to confirm:

$JAVA_HOME/bin/java -version

java version "11.0.1" 2018-10-16 LTS
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment 18.9 (build 11.0.1+13-LTS)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM 18.9 (build 11.0.1+13-LTS, mixed mode)

Answer 11

A better (more upgradable) way is to use the following:

/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/CurrentJDK/Home

This should work with AWS also since it has bin underneath Home

Answer 12

Newer Oracle JVMs such as 1.7.0_21-b12 seem to install here:

/Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home

Answer 13

My approach is:

.bashrc

export JAVA6_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.6`
export JAVA7_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7`
export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA6_HOME

# -- optional
# export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

This makes it very easy to switch between J6 and J7

Answer 14

I Had to explicitly set it to the exact path on my Macbook air .

Steps followed:

1. try to echo $JAVA_HOME (if it's set it'll show the path), if not, try to search for it using sudo find /usr/ -name *jdk
2. Edit the Bash p with - sudo nano ~/.bash_profile
3. Add the exact path to JAVA Home (with the path from step 2 above) export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_144.jdk/Contents/Home
4. Save and exit
5. Check JAVA_Home using - echo $JAVA_HOME

I am running MACOS MOJAVE - 10.14.2 (18C54) on a Macbook Air with JAVA 8

Answer 15

OSX Yosemite, ZSH, and Java SE Runtime Environment 8, I had to:

$ sudo ln -s /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/Current/Commands /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/Current/bin

and in ~/.zshrc change JAVA_HOME to export JAVA_HOME="/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/Current"

Answer 16

For Mac OS X 10.9 I installed the latest version of JRE from Oracle and then reset the JAVA_HOME to /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home.

I am sure there is a better way but this got me up and running.

hughsmac:~ hbrien$ echo $JAVA_HOME /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home

Answer 17

For Java 11 (JDK 11) it can be located with the following command:

/usr/libexec/java_home -v 11

Answer 18

Got the same issue after I upgrade my Mac OS and following worked for me:

1. cmd>vi ~/.bash_profile

2. Add/update the line for JAVA_HOME: export JAVA_HOME="/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_15.jdk/Contents/Home"

3. cmd>source ~/.bash_profile or open a new terminal

I think the jdk version might differ, so just use the version which you have under /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/

Answer 19

If you are in need to have multiple versions of JDK under Mac OS X (Yosemite), it might be helpful to add some scripting for automated switching between them.

What you do is to edit your ~/.bash_profile and add the following:

function setjdk() {
  if [ $# -ne 0 ]; then
   removeFromPath '/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Home/bin'
   if [ -n "${JAVA_HOME+x}" ]; then
    removeFromPath $JAVA_HOME
   fi
   export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v $@`
   export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
  fi
 }
 function removeFromPath() {
  export PATH=$(echo $PATH | sed -E -e "s;:$1;;" -e "s;$1:?;;")
 }
setjdk 1.7

What the script does is to first remove other JDK versions in the PATH so that they won’t interfere with our new JDK version. Then it makes some clever use of /usr/libexec/java_home which is a command that lists installed JDK versions. The -v argument tells java_home to return the path of the JDK with the supplied version, for example 1.7. We also update the PATH to point to the bin directory of the newly found JAVA_HOME directory. At the end we can simply execute the function using

setjdk 1.7

which selects the latest installed JDK version of the 1.7 branch. To select a specific version you can simply execute

setjdk 1.7.0_51

instead. Run /usr/libexec/java_home -V to get more details on how to choose versions.

P.S. Do not forget to source ~/.bash_profile after you save it.

Answer 20

For Fish terminal users on Mac (I believe it's available on Linux as well), this should work:

set -Ux JAVA_8 (/usr/libexec/java_home --version 1.8)
set -Ux JAVA_12 (/usr/libexec/java_home --version 12)
set -Ux JAVA_HOME $JAVA_8       //or whichever version you want as default

Answer 21

Handy command for knowing java home and other details.

java -XshowSettings:properties -version

and to know all java homes on your mac:

/usr/libexec/java_home -V

Answer 22

This answer is related to Mountain Lion and not Lion. I needed to do this for the AWS Command Line Tools. According to the AWS docs, running which java returns /usr/bin/java.

So, I set JAVA_HOME=/usr in my .bashrc.

Apparently, /usr/bin/java is a symbolic link to /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/Current/Commands/java which makes it all work.

Update

As mentioned in the comment below, this JAVA_HOME value is not an ideal solution when the JAVA_HOME environment variable is to be used by things other than the AWS Command Line Tools. It works fine for the AWS Command Line Tools, though, as given in their docs.

Answer 23

for mac user . java 8 should add

export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8`
# JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_05.jdk/Contents/Home

java 6 :

export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.6`
# JAVA_HOME=/System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home

ref :http://qiita.com/seri_k/items/e978c1339ce51f13e297

Answer 24

For Mac Yosemite,

JDK 1.7.0_xx is using

$ ls -ltar /usr/bin/java
/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/Current/Commands/java

JAVA_HOME

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_xx.jdk/Contents/Home

Answer 25

Anyone using AUSKEY from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) should uninstall AUSKEY. This sorted out my JAVA_HOME issues.

It is also no longer required for MAC users. Yah!

Answer 26

I'm using Fish shell on High Sierra 10.13.4 and installed Java via Brew.

It's not automatically set up so to set it correctly on my system I run:

set -U JAVA_HOME (/usr/libexec/java_home)

Answer 27

Just set java_home of 1.8 jdk version in netbeans.conf file:

/Applications/NetBeans/NetBeans 8.2.app/Contents/Resources/NetBeans/etc/netbeans.conf

uncomment line:

netbeans_jdkhome="path/to/jdk"

and set path to your 1.8 jdk, in my case:

netbeans_jdkhome="/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_121.jdk/Contents/Home"

This approach lays you to have several jdk versions on mac os