Ubuntu – How to make java default to a manually installed JRE/JDK

alternativejavajdkjre

I have Ubuntu 12.04 amd64 installed on my machine, on the previous versions of Ubuntu it was deadly easy, now there is this command update-java-alternatives with a really bad man page.

I just have my JDK unpacked on a mounted partition like /media/mydisk/jdk, how i can force the use of that JDK instead of the one that comes in the Ubuntu repository?

What is the logic behind this update-java-alternatives ?

Best Answer

Note: update-java-alternatives won't work with manual installations. In any case, it doesn't look like it has any special abilities which update-alternatives doesn't have, except convenience.

As a graphical alternative to @AnwarShah's command-line method, consider using Gnome Alternatives (sudo apt-get install galternatives):

  • Start GAlternatives, select each java option, change it to manual, and Add your alternative (the example here is the IBM JRE installed in my home directory):

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