I use some programs that have known bugs when using Java 1.7.x (default on my computer), issues that would be fixed using Java 1.6. However I also use program that works fine with the default Java and have known issues with older versions.
How can I run the program myprogram
specifing the version of Java to use?
Best Answer
There is a shell environment variable,
JAVA_HOME
that can be set to use a java version from a specific directory. It needs to be exported, and should contain the path of thebin
subdirectory of the java version. Also, the same directory should be first (or before/usr/bin
) inPATH
.The variable can be set in a script used to start an individual program.
You could find the bin directories of installed versions using something like
For details on setting the variable, see Setting JAVA_HOME.
There is a similar variable
JDK_HOME
for the JDK.