Error running xlsx and rJava on Mac with M1

Question

I've recently started working on a MacBook with M1 Max. But now, in R , with xlsx I get this error:

library(xlsx)
Error: package or namespace load failed for ‘xlsx’:
 .onLoad failed in loadNamespace() for 'rJava', details:
  call: dyn.load(jli, FALSE)
  error: unable to load shared object '/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/lib/jli/libjli.dylib':
  dlopen(/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/lib/jli/libjli.dylib, 0x000A): tried: '/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/lib/jli/libjli.dylib' (mach-o file, but is an incompatible architecture (have 'x86_64', need 'arm64')), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/lib/jli/libjli.dylib' (no such file), '/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/lib/jli/libjli.dylib' (mach-o file, but is an incompatible architecture (have 'x86_64', need 'arm64'))

rJava seemed to be the problem, so I tried to install and run that:

install.packages("rJava")
library(rJava)
Error: package or namespace load failed for ‘rJava’:
 .onLoad failed in loadNamespace() for 'rJava', details:
  call: dyn.load(jli, FALSE)
  error: unable to load shared object '/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/lib/jli/libjli.dylib':
  dlopen(/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/lib/jli/libjli.dylib, 0x000A): tried: '/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/lib/jli/libjli.dylib' (mach-o file, but is an incompatible architecture (have 'x86_64', need 'arm64')), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/lib/jli/libjli.dylib' (no such file), '/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/lib/jli/libjli.dylib' (mach-o file, but is an incompatible architecture (have 'x86_64', need 'arm64'))

I read around and see others with M1 have similar problems:

How to install rJava package in Mac with M1 architecture

https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/issues/11130

I've tried following the steps in these, but still can't get it working.

This is my R version - R version 4.2.2 (64-bit). This is my java version - 1.8.0_351 (64-bit).

I've tried R CMD javareconf in terminal, and restarted the machine, but no change.

I've read that I may need to install java JDK 17 aarch64 ( Unable to use package rJava on Macbook with Apple M1 Chip, Get the error below ), or downgrade java to version 8 ( https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/issues/11130 ).

TBH I'm at the point I don't really understand the advice in these pages, and am worried about messing up my machine. Would very much appreciate some help!

Answer 1

I've managed to fix this issue. The answer is from this post here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/70456947/8201618

brew install openjdk
brew info openjdk

Then there is a command like

For the system Java wrappers to find this JDK, symlink it with
  sudo ln -sfn /opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk/libexec/openjdk.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk.jdk

I ran this, restarted the computer, and now rJava and xlsx are working!