4 Installation of the JDK on macOS
The JDK supports both Intel-based (x64) and Apple Silicon (AArch64) Mac computers.
System Requirements for Installing the JDK on macOS
JDK Installation Instruction Notation for macOS
JDK installers now support only one version of any Java feature release. You can't install multiple versions of the same feature release.
jdk-21
and
jdk-21.0.1
simultaneously. If you attempt to
install jdk-21.0.1
after jdk-21
is
installed, the installer uninstalls jdk-21
and installs
jdk-21.0.1
.
Note:
If you install an older version of a JDK when the newer version of the same feature family already exists, an error is displayed, prompting you to uninstall a newer JDK version if an older version has to be installed.JDK is installed in
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-<FEATURE>.jdk
where <FEATURE>
is the feature release
number. For example, JDK 21.0.1 is
installed in /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-21.jdk
.
macOS x64 systems:
jdk-<FEATURE>_macos-x64_bin.dmg
OR
jdk-<FEATURE>_macos-x64_bin.tar.gz
jdk-21_macos-x64_bin.dmg
ORjdk-21_macos-x64_bin.tar.gz
macOS aarch64 (64-bit ARM) systems:
jdk-<FEATURE>_macos-aarch64_bin.dmg
OR
jdk-<FEATURE>_macos-aarch64_bin.tar.gz
jdk-21_macos-aarch64_bin.dmg
OR
jdk-21_macos-aarch64_bin.tar.gz
Determining the Default JDK Version on macOS
When starting a Java application through the command line, the system uses the default JDK.
You can determine which version of the JDK is the default by entering java -version
in a Terminal window. If the installed version is 21 Interim 0, Update 0, and Patch 0, then you see a string that includes the text 21
. For example:
$ java -version
java version "21"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 21)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.2-b04, mixed mode)
To run a different version of Java, either specify the full path, or use the java_home
tool. For example:
$ /usr/libexec/java_home -v 21 --exec javac -version
Installing the JDK on macOS
.dmg
or
.tar.gz
file if you want to save disk space.
Uninstalling the JDK on macOS
Note:
Do not attempt to uninstall Java by removing the Java tools from /usr/bin
. This directory is part of the system software and any changes will be reset by Apple the next time that you perform an update of the OS.
Installation FAQ for macOS
This topic provides answers for the following frequently asked questions about installing JDK on macOS computers.
1. How do I find out which version of Java is the system default?
When you run a Java application from the command line, it uses the default JDK. If you do not develop Java applications, then you do not need to worry about this. See Determining the Default JDK Version on macOS.
2. How do I uninstall Java?
3. After installing Java for macOS 2012-006, can I continue to use Apple's Java 6 alongside the macOS JDK for Java 21?
If you want to continue to develop with Java 6 using command-line, then you can modify the startup script for your favorite command environment. For bash, use this:
$ export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 21`
Some applications use /usr/bin/java
to call Java. After installing Java for macOS 2012-006, /usr/bin/java
will find the newest JDK installed, and will use that for all of the Java-related command-line tools in /usr/bin
. You may need to modify those applications to find Java 6, or contact the developer for a newer version of the application.
4. What happened to the Java Preferences app in Application Utilities?
The Java Preferences app was part of the Apple Java installation and is not used by Oracle Java. Therefore, macOS releases from Apple that do not include Apple Java will not include Java Preferences.