What should I set JAVA_HOME to on OSX

Question

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.

On OSX 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?

Answer 1

I've found this stack to help, i was having the same issue and i could fix:

My java path was here:

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

and was needed to put into my .bash_profile:

export JAVA_HOME=\"/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home\"

Hope help

Answer 2

Create file ~/.mavenrc

then paste this into the file

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

test

mvn -v

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

Skipping Terminal setup since you mentioned applications, permanent system environment variable set up (works for macOS Sierra; should work for El Capitan too):

launchctl setenv JAVA_HOME $(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8)

(this will set JAVA_HOME to the latest 1.8 JDK, chances are you have gone through serveral updates e.g. javac 1.8.0_101, javac 1.8.0_131)
Of course, change 1.8 to 1.7 or 1.6 (really?) to suit your need and your system

Answer 5

Does Snow Leopard still have /usr/libexec/java_home? On 10.5, 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

Answer 6

That above works not any more in YOSEMITE for GRAPHICAL APPLICATIONS! Like eclipse, or anything started with Spotlight. (.bash_profile, launchd.conf works for terminal sessions only.) Before starting eclipse, just open a terminal window, and give out the following command:

launchctl setenv JAVA_HOME /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home

(With your installation path! Perhaps works with $(/usr/libexec/java_home) instead of the full path too.)

View the whole excellent article about the permanent solution here: Setting environment variables via launchd.conf no longer works in OS X Yosemite/El Capitan/macOS Sierra?