JAVA_HOME set wrongly

Question

When I do echo $JAVA_HOME, I get /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home

But When I do /usr/libexec/java_home, I get /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-15.0.2.jdk/Contents/Home

I think both of them should return /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-15.0.2.jdk/Contents/Home but $JAVA_HOME doesn't return that.

I put export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8) in.bash_profile. What's my issue? how to change JAVA_HOME?

Answer 1

I can see a couple of problems with your setup and commands. Execute the following commands:

$ cd ~
$ vi .bash_profile 

Put the following line in this file:

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

Save and exit the file and then execute the following commands:

$ source .bash_profile
$ echo $JAVA_HOME

Now, you should be able to get the results correctly.

Regarding setting Java-8:

Execute the following command:

$ /usr/libexec/java_home -V

This should print all JDK versions installed in your system. Now, copy the exact version number of Java-8 (eg 1.8.0_181) from the list and execute the following command:

export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8.0_181)