[java] Setting the JVM via the command line on Windows

Is it possible to specify the JVM to use when you call "java jar jar_name.jar" . I have two JVM installed on my machine. I can not change JAVA_HOME as it may break code that is all ready running.

Kind Regards

Stephen

You should be able to do this via the command line arguments, assuming these are Sun VMs installed using the usual Windows InstallShield mechanisms with the JVM finder EXE in system32.

Type java -help for the options. In particular, see:

-version:<value>
              require the specified version to run
-jre-restrict-search | -jre-no-restrict-search
              include/exclude user private JREs in the version search

If you have 2 installations of the JVM. Place the version upfront. Linux : export PATH=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/bin:$PATH

This eliminates the ambiguity.

yes I often need to have 3 or more JVM's installed. For example, I've noticed that sometimes the JRE is slightly different to the JDK version of the JRE.

My go to solution on Windows for a bit of 'packaging' is something like this:

@echo off
setlocal
@rem  _________________________
@rem
@set  JAVA_HOME=b:\lang\java\jdk\v1.6\u45\x64\jre
@rem
@set  JAVA_EXE=%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java
@set  VER=test
@set  WRK=%~d0%~p0%VER%
@rem
@pushd %WRK%
cd 
@echo.
@echo  %JAVA_EXE%  -jar %WRK%\openmrs-standalone.jar
       %JAVA_EXE%  -jar %WRK%\openmrs-standalone.jar 
@rem
@rem  _________________________
popd
endlocal
@exit /b

I think it is straightforward. The main thing is the setlocal and endlocal give your app a "personal environment" for what ever it does -- even if there's other programs to run.