install java on mac_How to install Java on Mac OSX
This article shows you how to install Java on Mac OSX, and also how to do Java/JDK version switching.
Tested with
Mac OS 10.15.3
JDK 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 (AdoptOpenJDK)
Note
On Mac OSX, Java should installed in this folder; it is Mac’s standard.
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/
We will show you two ways to install Java JDK on Mac, via the popular Homebrew package manager and manually installation.
1. Homebrew
1.1 Install Homebrew and update it.
$ brew update
$ brew tap adoptopenjdk/openjdk
1.3 Find all available JDK.
$ brew search jdk
The output may vary.
==> Casks
adoptopenjdk adoptopenjdk12 adoptopenjdk13-openj9 adoptopenjdk8-openj9-jre
adoptopenjdk10 adoptopenjdk12-jre adoptopenjdk13-openj9-jre adoptopenjdk8-openj9-jre-large
adoptopenjdk11 adoptopenjdk12-openj9 adoptopenjdk13-openj9-jre-large adoptopenjdk8-openj9-large
adoptopenjdk11-jre adoptopenjdk12-openj9-jre adoptopenjdk13-openj9-large adoptopenjdk9
adoptopenjdk11-openj9 adoptopenjdk12-openj9-jre-large adoptopenjdk8 oracle-jdk
adoptopenjdk11-openj9-jre adoptopenjdk12-openj9-large adoptopenjdk8 oracle-jdk-javadoc
adoptopenjdk11-openj9-jre-large adoptopenjdk13 adoptopenjdk8-jre sapmachine-jdk
adoptopenjdk11-openj9-large adoptopenjdk13-jre adoptopenjdk8-openj9
1.4 Java 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, choose one to install.
brew cask install adoptopenjdk8
brew cask install adoptopenjdk9
brew cask install adoptopenjdk10
brew cask install adoptopenjdk11
brew cask install adoptopenjdk12
brew cask install adoptopenjdk13
This example will install Java 8 and 11 for testing.
$ brew cask install adoptopenjdk8
$ brew cask install adoptopenjdk11
1.5 Where Java is installed? /usr/libexec/java_home -V
$ /usr/libexec/java_home -V
Matching Java Virtual Machines (2):
11.0.6, x86_64:"AdoptOpenJDK 11"/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/adoptopenjdk-11.jdk/Contents/Home
1.8.0_242, x86_64:"AdoptOpenJDK 8"/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/adoptopenjdk-8.jdk/Contents/Home
Homebrew will install the JDK at folder /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/, and this folder is Mac’s standard folder for Java installs.
1.6 Test it, by default, Mac takes the highest version.
$ java -version
openjdk version "11.0.6" 2020-01-14
OpenJDK Runtime Environment AdoptOpenJDK (build 11.0.6+10)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM AdoptOpenJDK (build 11.0.6+10, mixed mode)
1.7 How to do version switching? Refer to below 3. version switching
2. Manual installation
The example shows you how to download the early access JDK 14 and install it on Mac OSX.
Steps
Download JDK.
Puts the JDK folder at /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines.
Export JAVA_HOME.
2.1 Download the early access JDK 14 from the OpenJDK website.
2.2 Extracts tar file to /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines
$ cd /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines
$ sudo cp ~/Downloads/openjdk-14_osx-x64_bin.tar.gz /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines
$ pwd
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines
$ sudo tar xzf openjdk-14_osx-x64_bin.tar.gz
$ sudo rm openjdk-14_osx-x64_bin.tar.gz
2.3 Export JAVA_HOME.
Find out where is JDK 14.
$ /usr/libexec/java_home -v14
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-14.jdk/Contents/Home
Create or edit the existing ~/.bash_profile with a text editor.
$ vim ~/.bash_profile
Export JAVA_HOME, save and exit.
~/.bash_profile
export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-14.jdk/Contents/Home
Reflect the changes
$ source ~/.bash_profile
2.4 Test it.
$ java -version
openjdk version "14" 2020-03-17
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 14+36-1461)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 14+36-1461, mixed mode, sharing)
$ echo $JAVA_HOME
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-14.jdk/Contents/Home
3. Version Switching
In this tutorial, we installed the Java 8 and Java 11 via Homebrew (Step 1), and Java 14 manually (Step 2), so this Mac has three versions now. And the Mac is using the JDK 14.
$ /usr/libexec/java_home -V
Matching Java Virtual Machines (3):
14, x86_64:"OpenJDK 14"/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-14.jdk/Contents/Home
11.0.6, x86_64:"AdoptOpenJDK 11"/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/adoptopenjdk-11.jdk/Contents/Home
1.8.0_242, x86_64:"AdoptOpenJDK 8"/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/adoptopenjdk-8.jdk/Contents/Home
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-14.jdk/Contents/Home
Note
There are tools like jEnv to manage the Java version switching, but I prefer to manage with export JAVA_HOME manually, it’s simple and easy to understand, no black box magic.
3.1 Create or edit the existing ~/.bash_profile with a text editor like vim or nano, export JAVA_HOME to the specified JDK we want to use on Mac.
$ vim ~/.bash_profile
~/.bash_profile
export JAVA_HOME_8=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v1.8)
export JAVA_HOME_11=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v11)
export JAVA_HOME_14=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v14)
# Java 8
export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME_8
# Java 11
# export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME_11
The above changes will make JAVA_HOME point to JAVA 8.
3.2 Reflect the changes.
$ source ~/.bash_profile
$ java -version
openjdk version "1.8.0_242"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (AdoptOpenJDK)(build 1.8.0_242-b08)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (AdoptOpenJDK)(build 25.242-b08, mixed mode)
Done.
If we want to switch JDK version again, update the ~/.bash_profile and export JAVA_HOME to other JDK version.
References