Select Specific java version

Question

If my machine have multiple version of jre installed say jre 5, jre 6 and jre 7. Is it possible to force my application to use specific jre (say jre 5) at runtime?

You can check which JRE was used when starting a program and fail with descriptive message if it doesn't meet your requirements. — Tomasz Nurkiewicz
– Tomasz Nurkiewicz, Commented Aug 31, 2012 at 17:04
i was wondering when we are able to see list of jre from java control panel(Windows and Mac OSX not sure about Linux), So we may able able to select what version we want to use. — twid
– twid, Commented Aug 31, 2012 at 17:08

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:30:14Z

2

Launch the app. using Java Web Start. It provides many options for Runtime Versioning.

JNLP Runtime Settings

All the ticked JREs are available for use by JWS launched apps.

Here is how you might select any 1.5 variant in the launch file.

<j2se version="1.5" />

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:30

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answered Aug 31, 2012 at 17:09

Andrew Thompson

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Ilya · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-31 17:15:09Z

2

I have on my computer 3 JDKs. Every JDK has own environment variable

%JAVA_HOME_1_5%  
%JAVA_HOME_1_6%  
%JAVA_HOME_1_7%

when I want use specific JDK, I set %JAVA_HOME% to this variable.
Also I use scripts for using different JDK. For example, if I want start Jboss using JDK 6, I run next script

set JAVA_HOME=%JAVA_HOME_1_6%; 
%JBOSS_HOME%/run.bat

If I want execute runnable jar (using JDK 5) I run next script

%JAVA_HOME_1_5%/bin java MyJar.jar

If I want run maven with JDK 7, I am using next script

set JAVA_HOME=%JAVA_HOME_1_7%  
mvn clean install -Dmaven.test.skip=true

etc.

So you can use any JDK using env. variables and simple scripts

answered Aug 31, 2012 at 17:15

Ilya

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yuen23 · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-31 17:10:27Z

1

Run the java in corresponding paths:

usr/local/jdk1.5/bin/java HelloWorld

usr/local/jdk1.6/bin/java HelloWorld

usr/local/jdk1.7/bin/java HelloWorld

etc...

answered Aug 31, 2012 at 17:10

yuen23

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Rich Cowin · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-31 17:22:14Z

1

In your running application use

String javaVersion = System.getProperty("java.specification.version");

To check which version of Java is being used to run your app. You can throw an exception if it doesn't match what you want.

edited Aug 31, 2012 at 17:22

answered Aug 31, 2012 at 17:12

Rich Cowin

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1 Comment

Andrew Thompson Over a year ago

"You can parse out the major version" Easier to use the java.specification.version (here reports '1.7').

twid · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-12 13:38:16Z

1

I found way to do it. We can allow application to select jre by javaw -version:"version String" as given in LINK

For Example : javaw -version:"1.6.*"

edited Jun 12, 2013 at 13:38

answered Sep 3, 2012 at 14:02

twid

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Comments

Dan D. · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-31 17:07:13Z

0

You can force the application by starting it using an absolute path on disk to a specific Java version.

answered Aug 31, 2012 at 17:07

Dan D.

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1 Comment

twid Over a year ago

that wont be possible because i need to select jre before actual application starts.

Pyrce · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-31 17:07:46Z

0

You generally have to do this before you launch java. Inside a script you can look for the executable of a specific version of java and fail if that jre doesn't exist/isn't in a known location. Then after finding that version of java run your java program with that jre. How to explicitly do this depends on your OS.

Once inside the java program java you can't change versions. Hence java checks for version (inside of a java program) are only useful for quitting before full executing rather than changing to a valid version.

answered Aug 31, 2012 at 17:07

Pyrce

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