Mac OS X and multiple Java versions

Uninstall jdk8, install jdk7, then reinstall jdk8.

My approach to switching between them (in .profile) :

export JAVA_7_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v1.7) export JAVA_8_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v1.8) export JAVA_9_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v9) export JAVA_20_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v20) alias java7='export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_7_HOME' alias java8='export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_8_HOME' alias java9='export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_9_HOME' alias java20='export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_20_HOME' #default java8 export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_8_HOME 

Then you can simply type java7 or java8 in a terminal to switch versions.

(edit: updated to add Dylans improvement for Java 9)

For macOS Sierra 420

This guide was cobbled together from various sources (replies above as well as other posts), and works perfect.

0. If you haven't already, install homebrew.

See https://brew.sh/

1. Install jenv

brew install jenv 

2. Add jenv to the bash profile

if which jenv > /dev/null; then eval "$(jenv init -)"; fi 

3. Add jenv to your path

export PATH="$HOME/.jenv/shims:$PATH" 

4. Tap "homebrew/cask-versions"

FYI: "Tap" extends brew's list of available repos it can install, above and beyond brew's default list of available repos.

brew tap homebrew/cask-versions 

5. Install the latest version of java

brew install java --cask 

6. Install java 6 (or 7 or 8 whatever you need)

brew install java6 --cask #brew install java7 --cask #brew install java8 --cask 

? Maybe close and restart Terminal so it sees any new ENV vars that got setup.

7. Review Installations

Most Java version get installed here: /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines lets take a look.

ls -la /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines 

NOTE: Sometimes java ends up here: /usr/local/opt/openjdk/bin/java, so you can peek into the "opt" dir and look for "openjdk" in the list with:

ls -la /usr/local/opt/ 

8. Add each path to jenv one-at-a-time.

We need to add "/Contents/Home" to the version folder. WARNING: Use the actual paths on your machine... these are just EXAMPLE's

jenv add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0___EXAMPLE___/Contents/Home jenv add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-9.0.1.jdk___EXAMPLE___/Contents/Home 

TIP: If you think you already have java, but not sure where it is, try using "which" -- if you have java installed, "which" should print out the path to java:

which java 

9. Check if jenv registered OK

jenv versions 

10. Set java version to use (globably)

Where XX matches one of the items in the versions list above.

jenv global XX 

Check java version

java -version 

NOTE: If not seeing version, enable plugin export (see comments below from cakraww):

jenv enable-plugin export 

Check jenv versions

Should also indicate the current version being used with an asterisk.

jenv versions 

DONE

Quick future reference

To change java versions

... See the list of available java versions

jenv versions 

... then, where XX matches an item in the list above

jenv global XX 

... also check which java the system recognizes (see TIP in #8 above)

which java 

SDKMAN! is a great tool for using multiple versions of Java, Gradle, Groovy, Kotlin, and other JVM tools on Mac OS. Installation and usage doc are easily found on the main site.

(I have no affiliation, just a happy user).

As an example usage, if I type the following in a Terminal window, there is a list of available Java SDK versions (edited for brevity):

$ sdk list java Available Java Versions + 17.0.9-oracle > + 11.0.21-zulu 21.0.1-tem 

Here + denotes that the version is installed. > denotes which version is currently in use. To install a version:

$ sdk install java 21.0.1-tem 

To use a version in this Terminal window:

$ sdk use java 21.0.1-tem 

In the same spirit than @Vegard (lightweight):

• Install the wanted JDKs with Homebrew

• Put this jdk bash function and a default in your .profile

  jdk() { version=$1 export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v"$version"); java -version } export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v11); # Your default version 

• and then, to switch your jdk, you can do

   jdk 9 jdk 11 jdk 13 

Based on https://github.com/AdoptOpenJDK/homebrew-openjdk.

I find this Java version manager called Jabba recently and the usage is very similar to version managers of other languages like rvm(ruby), nvm(node), pyenv(python), etc. Also it's cross platform so definitely it can be used on Mac.

After installation, it will create a dir in ~/.jabba to put all the Java versions you install. It "Supports installation of Oracle JDK (default) / Server JRE, Zulu OpenJDK (since 0.3.0), IBM SDK, Java Technology Edition (since 0.6.0) and from custom URLs.".

Basic usage is listed on their Github. A quick summary to start:

curl -sL https://github.com/shyiko/jabba/raw/master/install.sh | bash && . ~/.jabba/jabba.sh # install Oracle JDK jabba install 1.8 # "jabba use 1.8" will be called automatically jabba install 1.7 # "jabba use 1.7" will be called automatically # list all installed JDK's jabba ls # switch to a different version of JDK jabba use 1.8 

As found on this website So Let’s begin by installing jEnv

1. Run this in the terminal

   brew install https://raw.github.com/gcuisinier/jenv/homebrew/jenv.rb 

2. Add jEnv to the bash profile

   if which jenv > /dev/null; then eval "$(jenv init -)"; fi 

3. When you first install jEnv will not have any JDK associated with it.

   For example, I just installed JDK 8 but jEnv does not know about it. To check Java versions on jEnv

   At the moment it only found Java version(jre) on the system. The * shows the version currently selected. Unlike rvm and rbenv, jEnv cannot install JDK for you. You need to install JDK manually from Oracle website.

4. Install JDK 6 from Apple website. This will install Java in /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/. The reason we are installing Java 6 from Apple website is that SUN did not come up with JDK 6 for MAC, so Apple created/modified its own deployment version.

5. Similarly install JDK7 and JDK8.

6. Add JDKs to jEnv.

   JDK 6:

   JDK 7:

   JDK 8:

7. Check the java versions installed using jenv

   

8. So now we have 3 versions of Java on our system. To set a default version use the command

   jenv local <jenv version> 

   Ex – I wanted Jdk 1.6 to start IntelliJ

   jenv local oracle64-1.6.0.65 

9. check the java version

   java -version

That’s it. We now have multiple versions of java and we can switch between them easily. jEnv also has some other features, such as wrappers for Gradle, Ant, Maven, etc, and the ability to set JVM options globally or locally. Check out the documentation for more information.

Manage multiple java version in MAC using jenv

1. Install homebrew using following command

   /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)" 

2. install jenv and activate jenv

   brew install jenv echo 'eval "$(jenv init -)"' >> ~/.bash_profile 

3. tap cask-versions

   brew tap homebrew/cask-versions 

4. search available java version that can be installed

   brew search java 

5. E.g. to install java6 use following command

   brew install cask java6 

6. Add multiple versions of java in jenv

   jenv add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_231.jdk/Contents/Home jenv add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home 

Note:- if you get error like ln: /Users/<username>/.jenv/versions/oracle64-1.8.0.231: No such file or directory, then run following:-

 mkdir -p /Users/<username>/.jenv/versions/oracle64-1.8.0.231 

7. Rehash jenv after adding jdk’s

   jenv rehash 

8. List known versions of java to jenv

   jenv versions 

9. Set default version

   jenv global oracle64-1.8.0.231 

10. Change java version for a project

    jenv local oracle64-1.6.0.65 

11. set JAVA_HOME with the same version as jenv

    jenv exec bash echo $JAVA_HOME 

I am using Mac OS X 10.9.5. This is how I manage multiple JDK/JRE on my machine when I need one version to run application A and use another version for application B.

I created the following script after getting some help online.

#!bin/sh function setjdk() { if [ $# -ne 0 ]; then removeFromPath '/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/' if [ -n "${JAVA_HOME+x}" ]; then removeFromPath $JAVA_HOME fi export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/$1/Contents/Home export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH fi } function removeFromPath() { export PATH=$(echo $PATH | sed -E -e "s;:$1;;" -e "s;$1:?;;") } #setjdk jdk1.8.0_60.jdk setjdk jdk1.7.0_15.jdk 

I put the above script in .profile file. Just open terminal, type vi .profile, append the script with the above snippet and save it. Once your out type source .profile, this will run your profile script without you having to restart the terminal. Now type java -version it should show 1.7 as your current version. If you intend to change it to 1.8 then comment the line setjdk jdk1.7.0_15.jdk and uncomment the line setjdk jdk1.8.0_60.jdk. Save the script and run it again with source command. I use this mechanism to manage multiple versions of JDK/JRE when I have to compile 2 different Maven projects which need different java versions.

Jenv on Mac Sierra:

if not working after install, do this bug fix to add java executable to path

export PATH="$HOME/.jenv/shims:$PATH" 

even though eval "$(jenv init -)" could do this job. The reason is /bin folder is not there anymore as describe in it's homepage, but shim folder is used as /bin instead.

• Make sure ~/.jenv is there
• which java may print /Library/...
• jenv global 1.8
• jenv shell 1.8

Eventually, which java gives you:

/Users/xxxx/.jenv/shims/java

I answer lately and I really recommand you to use SDKMAN instead of Homebrew.

With SDKMAN you can install easily different version of JAVA in your mac and switch from on version to another.

You can also use SDKMAN for ANT, GRADLE, KOTLIN, MAVEN, SCALA, etc...

To install a version in your mac you can run the command sdk install java 15.0.0.j9-adpt

I know that this question already have a lot of answers, but I want to share my solution only using Temurin and bash.

AdoptOpenJdk is deprecated and that is why I'm using Temurin.

1. Download Temurin using the mirrors or a package manager

$ brew install --cask temurin

And for other versions (like Java 8):

$ brew tap homebrew/cask-versions

$ brew install --cask temurin8

2. Add a bash script into your bash profile

Open your ~/.zshrc or ~/.bash_profile (depending on what you're using it)

And add this code:

set-jdk() { jdkversion=$1 export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/temurin-"$jdkversion".jdk/Contents/Home; export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin; java -version } 

3. Restart your terminal and change your Java version

$ set-jdk N N being the Java version that you want and it's already installed

e.g. $ set-jdk 8 To change to Java 8 / 1.8

Few considerations:

• It will only keep the Java version on the terminal session that you used the set-jdk command
• It won't set the Java version as global
• When you want to add the JAVA_HOME into another script/application, you can set /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/temurin-<version>.jdk/Contents/Home (change the for the desired Java version. Like this JD-GUI example)

Enjoy

As of 2023, brew install --cask zulu8 didn't work for me on Apple chip. brew install openjdk@8 also didn't not. The only one solution worked for me was brew install --cask adoptopenjdk8 and then of course vim ~/.zshrc and inside:

export JAVAC_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/adoptopenjdk-8.jdk/Contents/Home/ export JAVA_11_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v11) export JAVA_8_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v1.8) alias javac8='export JAVA_HOME=$JAVAC_HOME' alias java11='export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_11_HOME' alias java8='export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_8_HOME' 

switch from terminal using javac8 to a freshly installed (different) version. Note: you can have different Java versions than me, so it's just an example.

Edit: for some reason it takes some time once it's activate. It seems to me a restart of a laptop is needed.

To find the available Java versions:

brew search java 

To install the latest stable version (19 as of today):

brew info java brew install java 

For the system Java wrappers (eg: IDEs) to find the latest JDK, symlink it with:

sudo ln -sfn /opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk/libexec/openjdk.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk.jdk 

To install a specific version (11):

brew install java11 

For the system, Java wrappers to find JDK 11:

sudo ln -sfn /opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk@11/libexec/openjdk.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk-11.jdk 

You can have one of the OpenJDK versions in your PATH. Add one of the following lines to your ~/.bash_profile

export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk/bin:$PATH export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk@11/bin:$PATH 

Then,

source ~/.bash_profile 

New commands for installing Java via Homebrew:

• brew cask install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8
• brew cask install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk11

See the homebrew-openjdk repo for the latest commands.

Installing Java

You can install Java via Homebrew, Jabba, SDKMAN or manually. See this answer for details on all the commands.

Switching Java versions*

You can switch Java versions with jenv Jabba, SDKMAN or manually. See details on all the switching commands here.

Best solutions

• Jabba is designed to work on multiple platforms, so it's a good option if you want a solution that'll also work on Windows
• Using Homebrew to download Java versions and jenv to switch versions provides a nice workflow. jenv makes it easy to work with Java versions stored in any directory on your machine, so it's a good alternative if you're interested in storing Java in non-default directories.
• Using SDKMAN to download Javas and switch versions is another great alternative
• Manually switching should be avoided because it's an unnecessary headache.

Function to manually switch Java versions

Here's the Bash / ZSH function for manually switching Java versions (by OpenJDK):

jdk() { version=$1 export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v"$version"); java -version } 

There are great tools for switching Java versions, so I highly recommend against doing it manually.

I solved this error on my mac m1 air just by adding the path of new jdk version in ~/.zshrc file.

export PATH="SPATH:/Users/ayushpattnaik/Documents/Deyeloper/flutter/bin" export JAVA_HOME=nibrary/Jaya/JayaVirtualMachines/openjdk-11.jdk/Contents/Home 

[ayushpattnaik@Ayushs—MacBook—Air ~ % java —version openjdk version "11.0.18" 2023-01-17 OpenJDK Runtime Environment Homebrew (build 11.0.18+0) OpenJDK 64—Bit Server VM Homebrew (build 11.0.18+0, mixed mode) 

I have multiple jdks in my /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines path. So I can choose any version I wish to set as my default java path.

When you want to maintain multiple JDK version (already installed) in Mac M1 then to switch easily between them add following lines in your ~/.zshrc file

alias jdk11="export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 11`; java -version" alias jdk8="export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8`; java -version" 

Now, these can be easily switched like following

% ~ : jdk8 openjdk version "1.8.0_382" OpenJDK Runtime Environment (Zulu 8.72.0.17-CA-macos-aarch64) (build 1.8.0_382-b05) OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (Zulu 8.72.0.17-CA-macos-aarch64) (build 25.382-b05, mixed mode) % ~ : java -version openjdk version "1.8.0_382" OpenJDK Runtime Environment (Zulu 8.72.0.17-CA-macos-aarch64) (build 1.8.0_382-b05) OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (Zulu 8.72.0.17-CA-macos-aarch64) (build 25.382-b05, mixed mode) % ~ : % ~ : jdk11 openjdk version "11.0.15" 2022-04-19 LTS OpenJDK Runtime Environment Corretto-11.0.15.9.1 (build 11.0.15+9-LTS) OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Corretto-11.0.15.9.1 (build 11.0.15+9-LTS, mixed mode) % ~ : java -version openjdk version "11.0.15" 2022-04-19 LTS 

Here's a more DRY version for bash (Based on Vegard's answer)

Replace 1.7 and 1.8 with whatever versions you are interested with and you'll get an alias called 'javaX'; where 'X' is the java version (7 / 8 in the snippet below) that will allow you to easily switch versions

for version in 1.7 1.8; do v="${version: -1}" h=JAVA_"$v"_HOME export "$h"=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v $version) alias "java$v"="export JAVA_HOME=\$$h" done 

To install more recent versions of OpenJDK, I use this. Example for OpenJDK 14:

brew info adoptopenjdk brew tap adoptopenjdk/openjdk brew cask install adoptopenjdk14 

See https://github.com/AdoptOpenJDK/homebrew-openjdk for current info.

I followed steps in below link - https://medium.com/@euedofia/fix-default-java-version-on-maven-on-mac-os-x-156cf5930078 and it worked for me.

cd /usr/local/Cellar/maven/3.5.4/bin/ nano mvn --Update JAVA_HOME -> "${JAVA_HOME:-$(/usr/libexec/java_home)}" mvn -version 

Here is a great tutorial https://medium.com/@chamikakasun/how-to-manage-multiple-java-version-in-macos-e5421345f6d0 by using jEnv installed by brew

or you can check out homebrew-openjdk https://github.com/AdoptOpenJDK/homebrew-openjdk managing version using brew Tap

For mac os user

• First list the existing all java with this command

  ~ % /usr/libexec/java_home -V

• For this you will see this list of existing version

  Matching Java Virtual Machines (3): 20.0.2 (x86_64) "Amazon.com Inc." - "Amazon Corretto 20" /Users/userName/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/corretto- 20.0.2.1/Contents/Home 17.0.10 (x86_64) "Oracle Corporation" - "Java SE 17.0.10" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-17.jdk/Contents/Home 17.0.9 (x86_64) "Amazon.com Inc." - "Amazon Corretto 17" /Users/userName/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/corretto- 17.0.9/Contents/Home /Users/userName/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/corretto- 20.0.2.1/Contents/Home

• Then Convert using this command

  ~ % export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk- 17.jdk/Contents/Home

• Check java version

  java --version