Manage multiple Java environment

This blog shows you how to install and manage multiple Java environments in your Linux or macOS using jenv tool.

jEnv is a command line tool to help you forget how to set the JAVA_HOME environment variable.

Installation

Setting up jEnv is pretty simple.

Linux

$ git clone https://github.com/gcuisinier/jenv.git ~/.jenv

MacOS using Homebrew

$ brew install jenv

Setup jEnv profile

Follow below steps to configure jEnv profile as per your Shell.

Bash shell

$ echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.jenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile
$ echo 'eval "$(jenv init -)"' >> ~/.bash_profile
$ source ~/.bash_profile

ZSH shell

$ echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.jenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
$ echo 'eval "$(jenv init -)"' >> ~/.zshrc
$ source ~/.zshrc

Install & Configure JDKs

Now you can install multiple JDKs like openjdk-8, openjdk-9, oraclejdk-8, oraclejdk9, AdoptOpenJDK-8, AdoptOpenJDK-9 etc. And add them into jEnv.

Installing JDK

Following are the blogs, which will help you in installing different JDK on verity of OS.

Installing OpenJDK on Linux
Installing OpenJDK on Mac
Installing OpenJDK on Windows
Installing AdoptOpenJDK on Linux
Installing AdoptOpenJDK on Mac
Installing AdoptOpenJDK on Windows
Installing OracleJDK on Linux
Installing OracleJDK on Mac
Installing OracleJDK on Windows

In Linux distribution JDK get install in different path based on distribution and installation method. And in MacOS JDK get install in /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/.

Add JDKs into jEnv

Lets add JDK installation path into jEnv, so that it can manage it.

MacOS

$ jenv add /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home
$ jenv add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/openjdk-12.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home
$ jenv add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/adoptopenjdk-8.jdk/Contents/Home
$ jenv add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_211.jdk/Contents/Home

Ubuntu OS

$ jenv add /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/
$ jenv add /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/

Jenv versions

List Java versions maintained by jEnv tool.

$ jenv versions

Switch to local Jenv version

$ jenv local 12.0.1

Switch to global Jenv version

$ jenv global 12.0.1

Tips:

Enable following plugins if you are using Maven.

$ jenv enable-plugin maven
$ jenv enable-plugin export