How to specify which java version to use with sbt 0.12.4?

Question

How to specify which java version to use with sbt 0.12.4? I have java 7 and java 8 installed. Since sbt 0.12.4 does not support java 8 but tries to use it by default, I have to specify java version explicitly for sbt. I want to keep using java 8 as a default version of java for other things.

Answer 1

One way that works well for me is, using the sbt script from sbt-extras and add to the root of the project a file called .sbtopts with:

-java-home
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_75.jdk/Contents/Home

using whatever version of Java 7 you want to use. Make sure that those are on separate.

Answer 2

If you're not using the sbt script from sbt-extras you could use jEnv .

After configuring jEnv, from the root of the project run jenv local 1.7 , which will create a file called .java-version with content "1.7".

Then every time you run java (or javac , etc) in that project (including from any directory in that project) it will run the 1.6 version, thanks to jEnv's shim mechanisms.