How to install Java 8 on Mac

Question

Editors note: This question was asked in 2014, and the answers may be outdated.

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I want to do some programming with the latest JavaFX, which requires Java 8. I'm using IntelliJ 13 CE and Mac OS X 9 Mavericks. I ran Oracle's Java 8 installer, and the files look like they ended up at

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_05.jdk

but previous versions are at

/System/Library/Java/JavaFrameworks/jdk1.6....

Not sure why the latest installer puts this in /Library instead of /System/Library (nor what the difference is). But /usr/libexec/java_home doesn't find 1.8, so all the posts I've found on how to set your current java version don't work. I've tried adding a symbolic link to make it look like 1.8 is in the /System/Library... path, but it doesn't help. /usr/libexec/java_home -V still only lists the old Java 1.6.

Ironically, the "Java" control panel under System Preferences shows only Java 1.8!

Why doesn't Oracle's installer put it where it really goes? And how can I work around this problem?

Solution 1

Oracle has a poor record for making it easy to install and configure Java, but using Homebrew, the latest OpenJDK (Java 14) can be installed with:

brew install --cask adoptopenjdk8

For the many use cases depending on an older version (commonly Java 8), the AdoptOpenJDK project makes it possible with an extra step.

brew tap adoptopenjdk/openjdk
brew install --cask adoptopenjdk8

Existing users of Homebrew may encounter Error: Cask adoptopenjdk8 exists in multiple taps due to prior workarounds with different instructions. This can be solved by fully specifying the location with brew install --cask adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8.

Solution 2

Note: Oracle Java 8/9/10 is no longer available for public download (license change).

First install and update brew from Terminal:

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

brew tap homebrew/cask-versions

brew update

NEW as of June 2019

To install the JDKs from AdoptOpenJDK:

brew tap adoptopenjdk/openjdk

brew install --cask adoptopenjdk8
brew install --cask adoptopenjdk9
brew install --cask adoptopenjdk10
brew install --cask adoptopenjdk11

OLD

Java 8:

brew install --cask java8

Java Latest:

brew install --cask java

Solution 3

Java8 is no longer available on homebrew, brew install java8 will not work.

Instead, use:

brew cask install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8

See this commit for technical details.

Please note as well you may see issues around Cask adoptopenjdk8 exists in multiple taps. This is a known issue, currently being worked on, which you can see here:

https://github.com/AdoptOpenJDK/homebrew-openjdk/issues/106

For those who don't want to run through the details, here is a summary:

# To install JDK8
brew cask install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8

# To be able to safely run 'brew cleanup'
brew untap adoptopenjdk/openjdk
brew untap caskroom/versions
brew cleanup

Solution 4

I just did this on my MBP, and had to use

$ brew tap homebrew/cask-versions
$ brew cask install java8

in order to get java8 to install.

Solution 5

Assumption: Mac machine and you already have installed homebrew.

Install cask (with Homebrew 0.9.5 or higher, cask is included so skip this step):

$ brew tap caskroom/cask
$ brew tap caskroom/versions

To install latest java:

$ brew cask install java

To install java 8:

$ brew cask install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8

If you want to install/manage multiple version then you can use 'jenv':

Install and configure jenv:

$ brew install jenv
$ echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.jenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile
$ echo 'eval "$(jenv init -)"' >> ~/.bash_profile
$ source ~/.bash_profile

Add the installed java to jenv:

$ jenv add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_202.jdk/Contents/Home
$ jenv add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.11.0_2.jdk/Contents/Home

To see all the installed java:

$ jenv versions

Above command will give the list of installed java:

* system (set by /Users/lyncean/.jenv/version)
1.8
1.8.0.202-ea
oracle64-1.8.0.202-ea

Configure the java version which you want to use:

$ jenv global oracle64-1.6.0.39

To set JAVA_HOME:

$ jenv enable-plugin export

View more solutions

Comments

[barclay]

+1: i use this script and i agree, it's pretty useful for devs who have multiple projects that require different versions of Java.

[ccpizza]

There is really no need to set any scripts as long as you only need to use a specific version system-wide. Basically all you need to do is add to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile: export JAVA_HOME="/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8" and also add your $JAVA_HOME/bin to $PATH if the java installer didn't do it already. (NOTE: replace double quotes with backticks for /usr/libexec/java_home, can't enter literal backticks in comments..)

[James]

I had to run this multiple times before the the dmg would download from oracle, each time it continued at the last point it left off.

[Tommy]

Interesting to note that this did not work for me on Mavericks, so it did not answer the OP's question, but it did work for me on Captain, so it was useful as an answer..

[Benjineer]

@James - was probably a network issue. +1 for mentioning jenv

[philwhln]

For me, in El Kapitan, it would only download a few extra percent each time I ran it, so I ran it in a loop (in fish shell) and it eventually worked. while math "$status == 1"; brew install Caskroom/cask/java; end

[eddywashere]

This works, but I did have to brew install Caskroom/cask/java many times because the transfer kept closing: curl: (18) transfer closed with 34724700 bytes remaining to read

[davetw12]

As of December 2015, it is now unnecessary to install cask manually as it is now part of homebrew's installation. So after updating homebrew via brew update, you are set to use brew cask.

[James Lawson]

Didn't work for me on Yosemite (OSX v10.10.5). I get Error: Cask 'java' definition is invalid: Bad header line: parse failed ... Seems like this works only for El Capitan and not for any version preceding version of OSX (Yosemite, Mavericks..., )

[lewiguez]

I'm also getting the parse failed error, and I'm on El Capitan. Has anyone else encountered this and/or found a solution?

[icfantv]

if you want to install java 7 (along side java 8) via homebrew, the command is brew tap caskroom/versions followed by brew cask install java7.

[enderland]

Thanks, it's amazing how horrible the Java installation process using the "official" links/docs are.

[Pradeep]

Oracle official site is giving weired errors, this is life savior

[Christian Long]

jenv is a very convenient tool for managing multiple versions of Java, either globally or locally per-directory.

[Adil Hussain]

I installed homebrew fresh on a new OS X El Capitan machine and didn't have to run the brew tap command in the answer above. The first and third commands were sufficient.

[Andrew]

Good example using Docker, not sure why you got a downvote before.

[BitwiseMan]

@l3x - I suggested an edit that would update your answer to what davetw12 said. It was rejected because reviewers felt it was too different from your answer. Would you be willing to make your answer a shared answer so we can make this right and current? Or otherwise accept the edit?

[Calrion]

@tandrewnichols I just ran brew cask install java on my El Capitan Mac and it's downloading jdk-8u112-macosx-x64.dmg.

[whitfin]

I'd imagine the downvote because this does not answer the question of running Java on OS X/MacOS. Answering "How do I do this on platform X" with "Just use a VM/shim to do it on platform Y" is not productive.

[AKFourSeven]

If having anymore issue with JRE or JDK try gist.github.com/johan/10590467

[cambunctious]

it DOES install JDK. brew cask info java

[Rich Apodaca]

In contrast to @tandrewnichols I found this procedure installed JDK as well as the runtime - so full Java support.

[Rolando]

If you installed java using the Oracle updater and want Homebrew to manage it, do I have to fully uninstall the Oracle Java first?

[bananaforscale]

brew cask install java installed jdk ftw

[shiri]

Note that as of October 2017, the default brew command (as well as most of those in the comments) will install whatever is the latest major version JDK (i.e. java 9) rather than a specific older one (for example, Java 8 as in the OP). See this helpful blog post for a description of how to use brew to install an earlier version of Java if needed. lonecpluspluscoder.com/2017/10/08/…

[Karl Pokus]

How does that help?

[interrupt]

It helped me with installing specific version of java. Now when java 9 is out, running "brew cask install java" installs java 9. "brew cask install java8" wasn't working for me until I ran "brew tap caskroom/versions".

[Sindhu]

What is cask significance here ?

[hendrix]

Yes, brew tap caskroom/versions is required before installing java8

[danvk]

In case others missed this, the brew cask install java8 approach installs java in /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_162.jdk/Contents/‌​Home/bin/java.

[Arun]

brew cask install caskroom/versions/java8

[tresf]

Works on 10.8 after apple git is replaced with homebrew git. :) Very nice.

[Jim Ford]

3/28/18 - try: brew install caskroom/version/java8

[atlas_scoffed]

Anyone wanting Java 7: java7 is not available in cask versions, but zulu7 appears to work instead. github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-cask/issues/9447

[Naruto Sempai]

or just brew install homebrew/cask-versions/java8 for the win!

[Min2]

Error: Cask 'java8' is unavailable: No Cask with this name exists.

[Elderry]

Error: Cask 'java8' is unavailable: No Cask with this name exists.

[Felipe Augusto]

Use brew tap caskroom/versions before to avoid this errors. @Min2

[Shikhar Mishra]

On Mac OSX Sierra brew cask install caskroom/versions/java8

[mark]

I had to use the following commands brew tap homebrew/cask-versions; brew cask install java8

[chovy]

curl: (22) The requested URL returned error: 404 Not Found Error: Download failed on Cask 'java8' with message: Download failed: https://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/8u192-b12/750e1‌​c8617c5452694857ad95‌​c3ee230/jdk-8u192-ma‌​cosx-x64.dmg

[James Wierzba]

What happens if I install java via brew, and java was already installed from some other method? Will brew handle this ok? Or do I need to explicitly uninstall first?

[WeiChing 林煒清]

brew cask install java8 Error: Cask java8 exists in multiple taps:

[kitaev]

@danvk I install brew under ~/homebrew and hope the java can be installed under the ~/homebrew/bin, just like other apps, do you think it's possible and how to do that?

[Nikhil Sahu]

jenv is quite easy and super useful. I have multiple projects that need java 8 and 11

[Mizux]

especially for native java development (e.g. using SWIG, JNI and LIBRARY_PATH)

[Sean Breckenridge]

This doesn't work anymore, see here for more details.

[Sean Breckenridge]

@WeiChingLin you can fix that by specifying which tap you want to install from. e.g. brew cask install caskroom/versions/java8 or brew cask install homebrew/cask-versions/java8. However, that wont work currently since oracle is phasing out their java8 download. See here for more details.

[Siddhartha]

Getting this: Error: Download failed on Cask 'java8' with message: Download failed: https://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/8u202-b08/19610‌​70e4c9b4e26a04e7f5a0‌​83f551e/jdk-8u202-ma‌​cosx-x64.dmg

[Sean Breckenridge]

The workaround for now is to brew tap homebrew/cask-versions and use brew cask install homebrew/cask-versions/adoptopenjdk8

[Marcelo Xavier]

It is not possible to install Java8 using Brew anymore because of Oracle license changes. Java8 is not public anymore for download.

[Marcelo Xavier]

It is not possible to install Java8 using Brew anymore because of Oracle license changes. Java8 is not available for public download anymore.

[cglacet]

Why not making an alias for different version, like alias java8=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_172.jdk/Con‌​tents/Home/bin/java?

[Jain Waldrip]

Oh no! That must be very recent, because this workflow was working for me when I did it on my personal laptop just a couple weeks ago.

[Sean Breckenridge]

Is there any difference in using AdoptOpenJDK/openjdk instead of using homebrew/cask-versions/adoptopenjdk8

[Polpetta]

See stackoverflow.com/a/55775566/9306378 if you still want to use java8. Note that this uses OpenJDK though.

[Koray Tugay]

I get the following when I try your answer: Cask adoptopenjdk8 exists in multiple taps: caskroom/versions/adoptopenjdk8 adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8

[Dave Kerr]

@KorayTugay I have updated the answer, this should solve your issues!

[Dave Kerr]

@SeanBreckenridge - the HomeBrew team are working on it, at the moment it looks like AdoptOpenJDK will be used, but there is still some uncertainty, see the currently open issue github.com/AdoptOpenJDK/homebrew-openjdk/issues/106 for details!

[Jain Waldrip]

Looks like since Oracle's Java went license-only, my homebrew has started installing Open JDK for me by default.

[Sean Breckenridge]

See this answer below for further details.

[Adam Matan]

Java8 is not available for brew / cask anymore: github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-cask-versions/issues/7253

[user924]

Cask 'java8' is unavailable: No Cask with this name exists.

[user924]

Error: Cask 'java8' is unavailable: No Cask with this name exists.

[user924]

Error: Cask 'java8' is unavailable: No Cask with this name exists.

[matbrgz]

Why not rely on the Oracle installer? Has worked for me so far.

[Yordan Georgiev]

find /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Taps/ | grep -i jdk | xargs rm -v if you happen the get the "Error: Cask adoptopenjdk8 exists in multiple taps:" error ...

[Aditya Purandare]

This worked perfectly in Aug 2019. Steps: 1. brew tap adoptopenjdk/openjdk 2. brew cask installadoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8

[mok0]

Great advice to install jenv, makes it a lot easier to manage several versions of java. I am always wary of zapping anything installed into macOS by Apple, and with jenv, you can keep everything nicely separated.

[roottraveller]

$ brew cask install adoptopenjdk8 Error: Cask adoptopenjdk8 exists in multiple taps: caskroom/versions/adoptopenjdk8 adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8 . I have to use brew cask install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8

[rod]

just to follow from @roottraveller previous comment. It appears as though the adoptopenjdk versions are now in the caskroom/versions tap as well. So you could just do brew tap caskroom/versions and brew cask install adoptopenjdk8, skipping the adoptopenjdk tap. Might be useful if you've already tapped and updated caskroom/versions.

[xjlin0]

brew tap homebrew/cask-versions and brew cask install adoptopenjdk8 works for me on Hi Sierra 10.13.6

[theteddyboy]

Thank you for this. This also solves the error in Catalina " Java for macOS 2017-001 can’t be installed on a disk. A newer version of this package is already installed.".

[GensaGames]

@kavehmb Is there way to install it so without Sudo? Using above methods, it's trying to use usr/local/ space, even when I specified --appdir=~/Applications?

[protoEvangelion]

brew cask install homebrew/cask-versions/adoptopenjdk8 worked for me

[Josh Klein]

Latest workaround requires brew tap adoptopenjdk/openjdk followed by brew cask install adoptopenjdk8. That may fail with "Error: Cask adoptopenjdk8 exists in multiple taps" because you already attempted this another way, so specify exact location with brew cask install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8

[Wijay Sharma]

how do i set the JAVA_HOME path for the openjdk8??

[Evan Zamir]

Once you have it installed and you want to set JAVA_HOME, where do you point it to?

[Vittore Marcas]

As @ kavehmb says, 1.$/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)" $brew tap homebrew/cask-versions $brew update $brew tap adoptopenjdk/openjdk $brew cask install homebrew/cask-versions/adoptopenjdk8 (Or brew cask install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8) That works for me on macOS 10.12.6 Sierra.

[Vittore Marcas]

+1, that works for me on macOS 10.12.6 Sierra. (Or brew cask install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8)

[Code Wiget]

Ran these commands, but the wrong version of openjdk is on my machine: java --version openjdk 12.0.1 2019-04-16 OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 12.0.1+12) OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 12.0.1+12, mixed mode, sharing)

[Rakesh Patil]

If you have multiple versions of open jdk installed and want to change default version: /usr/libexec/java_home -V and then export JAVA_HOME='usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8.0_232' used example version

[Ray Garner]

it always installs the latest version

[tschumann]

On reinstall I had to enter my password 300 times for it to reinstall properly - I guess I needed to give permission to overwrite a bunch of existing files.

[viktorianer]

Best solution! Thank you!

[amcc]

@EvanZamir export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home`

[glerYbo]

brew cask install adoptopenjdk8 doesn't need tapping.

[glerYbo]

brew cask remove java; brew cask install adoptopenjdk8; java -version

[emllnd]

Thank you. Starts with short and to the point solution and continues with another useful tool: 'jenv' is handy to have around and is missing from most other answers. Helped with packaging Scala (2.12/2.13) code in 2020.

[wasserholz]

openJDK does not contain JavaFX

[jeadonara]

Works like a charm, brew cask install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8

[Dennis Jaheruddin]

Presumably I did something wrong, but when trying to do java8 I got an error: Error: Cask 'java8' is unavailable: No Cask with this name exists.

[Dennis Jaheruddin]

+1 The first one failed (Error: No available formula with the name "homebrew/cask-versions/" ), but the second one seemed to work. Updated answer to avoid scaring people off with the first faillure.

[Stevey]

This answer is odious. Just use brew cask install adoptopenjdk8.

[Basil Bourque]

@user3562927 Installing Homebrew (package manager) for the single goal of obtaining Java is like building a landing strip to park your car instead of just using your driveway. If you already have it, fine, use it. But suggesting Homebrew to those who simply need Java is poor advice. Apparently you are not the only easily-offended Homebrew fan, given the 5 down-votes left on this Answer without explanation. But I stand by my recommendation.

[Corey]

@user924 how about this brew cask install adoptopenjdk8 ?

[Ankit Khettry]

This is the best answer indeed! Ideal for folks (like me) who have and need to manage multiple versions of java

[Enihr]

Adding this for people using newer mac versions Warning: The Ruby Homebrew installer is now deprecated and has been rewritten in Bash. Please migrate to the following command: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh‌​)"

[Greenonline]

brew cask install java 8 gave me a completely different list: eclipse-java, netbeans-java-ee, oracle-jdk-javadoc, eclipse-javascript, netbeans-java-se

[Arefe]

Glad that helped you :)

[timurb]

This no longer works. I have Homebrew 2.7.1 running on Mac OS Catalina 10.15.4 Using brew tap followed by brew install --cask from another comment apparently worked fine.

[Daniel W.]

@BasilBourque brew is more useful than you think. It installs a lot of software so much easier, your answer is a proof for that :-/

[Basil Bourque]

@DanielW. The Question did not ask for a Brew solution, and did not even mention Brew. The Question asked about installing Java. There are several important issues to consider in installing Java; those issues I tried to cover. Apparently I have offended some Brew fans — that was not my intention. My intention was to pointedly address the Question at hand, as is the practice on Stack Overflow. And I stand by my position: Installing Brew just to install Java is overkill. Furthermore, using Brew to install Java will limit choices and ignore issues when it comes to various Java implementations.

[Nakilon]

$ jenv add /usr/local/opt/openjdk@11 => ln: /Users/nakilon/.jenv/versions/openjdk64-11.0.9: No such file or directory. Ah, ok, needed to run those commands that are going to bash_profile.

[freedev]

Have you run brew before jenv?

[djb]

I believe the first command (to install "the latest OpenJDK") be brew install --cask adoptopenjdk and not brew install --cask adoptopenjdk8 which will install JSK 8 not latest? also the latest is now 15 (as of Sep 2020). Also, Iit may help others to include brew tap adoptopenjdk/openjdk before the first command, as folks trying the install w/o the tap are getting errors.

[mathandy]

After following these steps, you may still need to define JAVA_HOME so it points to the brew installed java8. What worked for me was export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v1.8)

[Muriithi Derrick]

should be the only accepted solution, works like charm.

[Shams]

this worked for me brew install --cask adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8

[eatSleepCode]

How to install specific build of AdoptOpenJdk8

[Memphis Meng]

What's the point to install adoptopenjdk8~adoptopenjdk11 at one time?

[Shivam]

the brew method worked also had to update the path variables

[sourav pandit]

you need to run export PATH="/usr/local/opt/openjdk@8/bin:$PATH" after installing brew list for install packages brew info $package_name for information of package

[freedev]

@souravpandit thanks for the suggestion, I've just updated my answer ;)

[sud007]

damn this was never this easy even on windows! no path setting, Android Studio ready right after just install. Best ever Java install on a new machine, specially Mac!

[Akshay Vijay Jain]

what should be next command after searching?

[pnv]

I think I messed up somewhere, after doing this, I got Unrecognized option: --version Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine. Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Program will exit., while trying to do java --version

[freedev]

@pnv it’s a little weird. Maybe you have a mess with the PATH env, or many JDK installed in different ways. It’s hard to give you a hand from here.

[Jose M Vidal]

This is the one that worked for me today.

[Basil Bourque]

Your first sentence is quite incorrect. Oracle provides two downloads of Java 8 Update 311: (a) the regular product Oracle JDK, and the cutting-edge new technology product, GraalVM Enterprise.

[vpap]

brew install --cask adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8 worked for MacOS Monterey, 12.1. cask is no longer a brew command, see here, stackoverflow.com/questions/66286088/…

[A. KUMAR]

brew install --cask adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8 worked for me, I am on a mac Monterey with Apple M1 chip.

[Steven]

In order to test if the installation was successful run the following command on terminal 'javac -version'

[aksyuma]

I'm getting this pop-up : ---------------------------- Stop! java 8.0.191-oracle is not available. Possible causes: * 8.0.191-oracle is an invalid version * java binaries are incompatible with your platform * java has not been released yet ----------------------------

[stderr]

Indeed 8.0.191-oracle is not among the list anymore. You can use sdk list java to check other distributions

[mdabdullah]

This worked in 2022 , after installation the following commands can be used to validate your installation java , java -version . The commands java --version and which java do not give proper results though.

[Hila Grossbard]

as simple as that!

[Rogier de Ruijter]

Had to do brew install --build-from-source openjdk@8 to make it work

[RRy]

2022: Mac 12.x : brew cask` is no longer a brew command. Use brew <command> --cask instead. brew install adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8 --cask