[java] What is the correct target for the JAVA_HOME environment variable for a Linux OpenJDK Debian-based distribution?

In Windows, JAVA_HOME must point to the JDK installation folder (so that JAVA_HOME/bin contains all executables and JAVA_HOME/libs contains all default jar libraries).

If I download Sun's JDK bundle and installs it in Linux, it is the same procedure.

However, I need to use Kubuntu's default OpenJDK package. The problem is that all executables are placed in /usr/bin. But the jars are placed in /usr/share/java. Since they are not under the same JAVA_HOME folder I'm having trouble with Grails and maybe there will be trouble with other applications that expect the standard Java structure.

1. If I use:

   JAVA_HOME=/usr
   

   All applications and scripts that want to use any Java executable can use the standard procedure call $JAVA_HOME/bin/executable. However, since the jars are in a different place, they are not always found (example: in grails I'm getting ClassDefNotFound for native2ascii).

2. On the other hand, if I use:

   JAVA_HOME=/usr/share/java
   

   None of the Java executables (java, javac, etc.) can be found.

So, what is the correct way of handling the JAVA_HOME variable in a Debian-based Linux?

Thanks for your help, Luis

My correct target has always been to download it from Sun and just install it that way. Then you know exactly what directory everything goes in.

But if you'd prefer to stick with the odd way that Debian installs it, my best guess would be the parent directory just above where the java and javac binaries are located.

(since when you specify it in your path it's $JAVA_HOME/bin) (So in your case it would be ... $JAVA_HOME/share and $JAVA_HOME would be /usr ?)

Eh, that doesn't sound right...

I'm interested to hear the answer to this too!

As an update for fedora user , alternatives set current java directory to /usr/java/default

so you have to set your JAVA_HOME to /usr/java/default to always have alternatives curent selection in your classpath

HTH !

I always tend to set the JAVA_HOME according to the /usr/bin/java.

JAVA_HOME="$(dirname -- "$(dirname -- "$(readlink -f /usr/bin/java)")")"

This way, both alternatives point to the same location

Please see what the update-alternatives command does (it has a nice man...).

Shortly - what happens when you have java-sun-1.4 and java-opensouce-1.0 ... which one takes "java"? It debian "/usr/bin/java" is symbolic link and "/usr/bin/java-sun-1.4" is an alternative to "/usr/bin/java"

Edit: As Richard said, update-alternatives is not enough. You actually need to use update-java-alternatives. More info at:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Java

Ubuntu 12.04 this works...

JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-i386/jre

If you have issues with JAR files not being found I would also ensure your CLASSPATH is set to include the location of those files. I do find however that the CLASSPATH often needs to be set differently for different programs and often ends up being something to set uniquely for individual programs.

The standard Ubuntu install seems to put the various Java versions in /usr/lib/jvm. The javac, java you find in your path will softlink to this.

There's no issue with installing your own Java version anywhere you like, as long as you set the JAVA_HOME environment variable and make sure to have the new Java bin on your path.

A simple way to do this is to have the Java home exist as a softlink, so that if you want to upgrade or switch versions you only have to change the directory that this points to - e.g.:

/usr/bin/java --> /opt/jdk/bin/java,

/opt/jdk --> /opt/jdk1.6.011

I usually don't have any JAVA_HOME environment variable. Java can set it up itself. Inside java java.home system property should be available.

Updated answer that will solve your problem and also just a general good how-to for installing Oracle Java 7 on Ubuntu can be found here: http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Oracle-Java-on-Ubuntu-Linux

As far as I remember, I used the update-java-alternatives script instead of the update-alternatives. And it did set the JAVA_HOME for me correctly.

Try setting the JAVA_LIB variable also.

I've discovered similar problems with the openjdk-6-jre and openjdk-6-jre-headless packages in Ubuntu.

My problem was solved by purging the openjdk-6-jre and openjdk-6-jre-headless packages and re-installing. The alternatives are only updated on a fresh install of the openjdk-6-jre and openjdk-6-jre-headless packages.

Below is a sample of installing after purging:

aptitude purge openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-jre-headless # to ensure no configuration exists
aptitude install --without-recommends openjdk-6-jre # Installing without some extras
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  ca-certificates-java{a} java-common{a} libavahi-client3{a} libavahi-common-data{a} libavahi-common3{a} libcups2{a} libflac8{a} libgif4{a} libnspr4-0d{a} libnss3-1d{a} libogg0{a} libpulse0{a} libsndfile1{a} libvorbis0a{a} libvorbisenc2{a} libxi6{a} libxtst6{a}
  openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-jre-headless{a} openjdk-6-jre-lib{a} tzdata-java{a}
The following packages are RECOMMENDED but will NOT be installed:
  icedtea-6-jre-cacao icedtea-netx ttf-dejavu-extra
0 packages upgraded, 21 newly installed, 0 to remove and 119 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/34.5MB of archives. After unpacking 97.6MB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?]
Writing extended state information... Done
Selecting previously deselected package openjdk-6-jre-lib.
(Reading database ... 62267 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking openjdk-6-jre-lib (from .../openjdk-6-jre-lib_6b24-1.11.5-0ubuntu1~10.04.2_all.deb) ...
...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up tzdata-java (2012e-0ubuntu0.10.04) ...
...
Setting up openjdk-6-jre-headless (6b24-1.11.5-0ubuntu1~10.04.2) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/java to provide /usr/bin/java (java) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/keytool to provide /usr/bin/keytool (keytool) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/pack200 to provide /usr/bin/pack200 (pack200) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/rmid to provide /usr/bin/rmid (rmid) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/rmiregistry to provide /usr/bin/rmiregistry (rmiregistry) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/unpack200 to provide /usr/bin/unpack200 (unpack200) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/orbd to provide /usr/bin/orbd (orbd) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/servertool to provide /usr/bin/servertool (servertool) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/tnameserv to provide /usr/bin/tnameserv (tnameserv) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/lib/jexec to provide /usr/bin/jexec (jexec) in auto mode.
Setting up openjdk-6-jre (6b24-1.11.5-0ubuntu1~10.04.2) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/policytool to provide /usr/bin/policytool (policytool) in auto mode.
...

You can see above that update-alternatives is run to set up links for the various Java binaries.

After this install, there are also links in /usr/bin, links in /etc/alternatives, and files for each binary in /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives.

ls -l /usr/bin/java /etc/alternatives/java /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/java
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  40 2013-01-16 14:44 /etc/alternatives/java -> /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/java
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  22 2013-01-16 14:44 /usr/bin/java -> /etc/alternatives/java
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 158 2013-01-16 14:44 /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/java

Let's contast this with installing without purging.

aptitude remove openjdk-6-jre
aptitude install --without-recommends openjdk-6-jre
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  ca-certificates-java{a} java-common{a} libavahi-client3{a} libavahi-common-data{a} libavahi-common3{a} libcups2{a} libflac8{a} libgif4{a} libnspr4-0d{a} libnss3-1d{a} libogg0{a} libpulse0{a} libsndfile1{a} libvorbis0a{a} libvorbisenc2{a} libxi6{a} libxtst6{a}
  openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-jre-headless{a} openjdk-6-jre-lib{a} tzdata-java{a}
The following packages are RECOMMENDED but will NOT be installed:
  icedtea-6-jre-cacao icedtea-netx ttf-dejavu-extra
0 packages upgraded, 21 newly installed, 0 to remove and 119 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/34.5MB of archives. After unpacking 97.6MB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?]
Writing extended state information... Done
Selecting previously deselected package openjdk-6-jre-lib.
(Reading database ... 62293 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking openjdk-6-jre-lib (from .../openjdk-6-jre-lib_6b24-1.11.5-0ubuntu1~10.04.2_all.deb) ...
...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
...
Setting up openjdk-6-jre-headless (6b24-1.11.5-0ubuntu1~10.04.2) ...

Setting up openjdk-6-jre (6b24-1.11.5-0ubuntu1~10.04.2) ...
...

As you see, update-alternatives is not triggered.

After this install, there are no files for the Java binaries in /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives, no links in /etc/alternatives, and no links in /usr/bin.

The removal of the files in /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives also breaks update-java-alternatives.

If you use alternatives to manage multiple java versions, you can set the JAVA_HOME based on the symlinked java (or javac) like this:

export JAVA_HOME=$(readlink -f /usr/bin/java | sed "s:bin/java::")