Installing Java on OS X 10.9 (Mavericks)

Question

I have installed the JDK on Mac OS X v10.8 (Mountain Lion). When I upgraded it to Mac OS X v10.9 (Mavericks) and ran java -version

Answer 1

The right place to download the JDK for Java 7 is Java SE Downloads.

All the other links provided above, as far as I can tell, either provide the JRE or Java 6 downloads (incidentally, if you want to run Eclipse or other IDEs, like IntelliJ IDEA, you will need the JDK, not the JRE).

Regarding IntelliJ IDEA - that will still ask you to install Java 6 as it apparently needs an older class loader or something: just follow the instructions when the dialog pop-up appears and it will install the JDK 6 in the right place.

Afterwards, you will need to do the sudo ln -snf mentioned in the answer above:

sudo ln -nsf /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_45.jdk/Contents \
    /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/CurrentJDK

(copied here as it was mentioned that "above" may eventually not make sense as answers are re-sorted).

I also set my JAVA_HOME to point to where jdk_1.7.0_xx.jdk was installed:

export JAVA_HOME="/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home"

Then add that to your PATH:

export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

The alternative is to fuzz around with Apple's insane maze of hyperlinks, but honestly life is too short to bother.

Answer 2

This error means Java is not properly installed .

1) brew cask install java (No need to install cask separately it comes with brew)

2) java -version

java version "1.8.0_131"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_131-b11)

P.S - What is brew-cask ? Homebrew-Cask extends Homebrew , and solves the hassle of executing an extra command - “To install, drag this icon…” after installing a Application using Homebrew.

N.B - This problem is not specific to Mavericks , you will get it almost all the OS X, including EL Capitan.

Answer 3

From the OP:

I finally reinstalled it from Java for OS X 2013-005. It solved this issue.

Answer 4

I downloaded and installed the JDK 1.7 from Oracle. In the console / in Terminal Java 7 works fine.

When I start a Java program (like Eclipse) via the GUI, I get:

To open "Eclipse.app" you need a Java SE 6 runtime. Would you like to install one now?

Because I did not want to install old Java version, I used the following workaround:

sudo ln -nsf /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_45.jdk/Contents /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/CurrentJDK

Credits to monkehWorks.

Answer 5

If you only want to install the latest official JRE from Oracle, you can get it there, install it, and export the new JAVA_HOME in the terminal.

• Open your Terminal
• java -version gives you an error and a popup
• Get the JRE dmg on http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
• Install it
• In your terminal, type: export JAVA_HOME="/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home"
• java -version now gives you java version "1.7.0_45"

That's the cleanest way I found to install the latest JRE.

You can add the export JAVA_HOME line in your .bashrc to have java permanently in your Terminal:

echo export JAVA_HOME=\"/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home\" >> ~/.bashrc

Answer 6

There isn't any need to install the JDK, which is the developer kit, just the JRE which is the runtime environment.