How to set JAVA_HOME environment variable on Mac OS X 10.9?

Question

I just purchased a brand new MacBook Pro.

This is my first MAC ever and I'm still trying to get the hang of navigating my way around.

Anyway, I'm also new to Java and I've been practicing on my Windows PC before it permanently died.

Now that I'm on this MAC, I installed my JDK and now I need to set the JAVA_HOME environment variable.

I have no idea what to do.

I tried following some of these guides and didn't get very far.

1. Mkyong.com : How to set JAVA_HOME variable in Mac OSX

2. YouTube : How to set environment variables on mac, linux, solaris, rhel

3. YouTube : How to Set Environment Variables in Mac

I was able to locate the terminal and I think I created some multiple files. I'm getting messages like this:

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(1) Another program may be editing the same file. If this is the case, be careful not to end up with two different instances of the same file when making changes. Quit, or continue with caution.

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(2) An edit session for this file crashed. If this is the case, use ":recover" or "vim -r /Users/Erwin/.bash_profile" to recover the changes (see ":help recovery"). If you did this already, delete the swap file "/Users/Erwin/.bash_profile.sw p" to avoid this message.

Can somebody tell how to set Java in Mac OSX environment step by step?

Answer 1

Literally all you have to do is:

echo export "JAVA_HOME=\$(/usr/libexec/java_home)" >> ~/.bash_profile

and restart your shell.

If you have multiple JDK versions installed and you want it to be a specific one, you can use the -v flag to java_home like so:

echo export "JAVA_HOME=\$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7)" >> ~/.bash_profile

Answer 2

I did it by putting

export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home`

(backtics) in my .bashrc. See my comment on Adrian's answer.

Answer 3

In Mac OSX 10.5 or later, Apple recommends to set the $JAVA_HOME variable to /usr/libexec/java_home, just export $JAVA_HOME in file ~/. bash_profile or ~/.profile.

Open the terminal and run the below command.

$ vim .bash_profile

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

save and exit from vim editor, then run the source command on .bash_profile

$ source .bash_profile

$ echo $JAVA_HOME

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.7.0.jdk/Contents/Home

Answer 4

Set $JAVA_HOME environment variable on latest or older Mac OSX.

Download & Install install JDK

1. First, install JDK
2. Open terminal check java version

$ java -version

Set JAVA_HOME environment variable

1. Open .zprofile file

$ open -t .zprofile

Or create . zprofile file

$ open -t .zprofile

2. write in .zprofile

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

Save .zprofile and close the bash file & then write in the terminal for work perfectly.

$ source .zprofile

Setup test in terminal

$ echo $JAVA_HOME  
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-13.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home

Answer 5

It is recommended to check default terminal shell before set JAVA_HOME environment variable, via following commands:

$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

If your default terminal is /bin/bash (Bash), then you should use @Adrian Petrescu method.

If your default terminal is /bin/zsh (Z Shell), then you should set these environment variable in ~/.zshenv file with following contents:

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

Similarly, any other terminal type not mentioned above, you should set environment variable in its respective terminal env file.

Answer 6

I just spent 2 hours setting this variable. The other answers did not work properly for me. I'm using macOS Catalina 10.15.4.

First, find your actual Java SDK Home directory:

/usr/libexec/java_home

Manually navigate there to make sure you don't have any mistakes due to incorrect versions, etc. For me, this was:

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-13.0.2.jdk/Contents/Home

Next, edit your terminal's profile. If you're using zsh, this will be:

vim ~/.zshrc

If you're not using zsh, this will be:

vim ~/.bash_profile

Inside, add the following new line anywhere in the file:

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-13.0.2.jdk/Contents/Home

Restart your terminal app (or source ~/.bash_profile), and it should work properly.

Answer 7

I got it working by adding to ~/.profile. Somehow after updating to El Capitan beta, it didnt work even though JAVA_HOME was defined in .bash_profile.

If there are any El Capitan beta users, try adding to .profile

Answer 8

I've updated the great utility jenv to make it easy to setup on macOS.

Follow the instructions on https://github.com/hiddenswitch/jenv

Answer 9

Since I'm using openjdk managed with sdkman, I added

sudo ln -sfn /path/to/my/installed/jdk/openjdk.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk.jdk

Adding this to your system lets java_home recognize your installed version of Java even when its not installed via standard packages

Answer 10

If you are using Zsh, then try to add this line in ~/.zshrc file & restart terminal.

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