Running Java GUI applications through a Linux terminal

Question

I'm on Ubuntu trying to run a Java GUI application through the terminal. I'm getting a HeadlessException when I try to run it. Below is the stack trace:

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.awt.HeadlessException
    at java.awt.GraphicsEnvironment.checkHeadless(GraphicsEnvironment.java:173)
    at java.awt.Window.<init>(Window.java:437)
    at java.awt.Frame.<init>(Frame.java:419)
    at java.awt.Frame.<init>(Frame.java:384)
    at javax.swing.JFrame.<init>(JFrame.java:174)
    at gui.ImageViewer.<init>(ImageViewer.java:34)
    at displayrunner.DisplayRunner$1.run(DisplayRunner.java:15)
    at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(InvocationEvent.java:226)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:647)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.access$000(EventQueue.java:96)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(EventQueue.java:608)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(EventQueue.java:606)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(AccessControlContext.java:105)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:617)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:275)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:200)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:190)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:185)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:177)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:138)

I tried export DISPLAY=:0.0 before running the application, but that had no effect. How do you run a GUI application through Bash?

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-09 23:47:01Z

30

I guess you only have the default-jre-headless package installed. Check that you have default-jre.

edited Feb 9, 2018 at 23:47

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 9, 2011 at 6:08

Denis Tulskiy

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3 Comments

Phil C Over a year ago

Worked for me, thanks. Package was there with Ubuntu but not installed. "sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jre"

chank Over a year ago

worked for me too. in my case i had only default-jdk-headless installed. so, I installed default-jdk

Maxim Over a year ago

just a remark: in Fedora/RedHat distributions this package is called 'java-N.N.N-openjdk' (where NNN is the version number)

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-09 23:50:22Z

8

I had this exception. I tried setting the headless setting to false, and it worked for me:

export JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS='-Djava.awt.headless=false'

edited Feb 9, 2018 at 23:50

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 16, 2014 at 15:27

AkD

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1 Comment

Kelly Bang Over a year ago

This didn't work for me but did cause it to provide a more helpful message (missing library)

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-09 23:49:54Z

3

If you run your application on Ubuntu by the command:

java -jar MyJar.jar

then OpenJDK is used. Try to install the Sun JDK and run your application like:

/usr/java/jre1.6.0_22/bin/java -jar MyJar.jar

edited Feb 9, 2018 at 23:49

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 9, 2011 at 6:55

ilalex

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1 Comment

SiKing Over a year ago

Alternatively, you can use the command update-java-alternatives to select the default Java on your machine.

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-09 23:48:11Z

0

If you don't have a GUI, you can't run it. Are you running remotely (for example, SSH)?

If so, look into the system that you're using for remote access. For example, with SSH you want to look at the AllowX11Forwarding setting (SSH FAQ entry).

edited Feb 9, 2018 at 23:48

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 9, 2011 at 5:50

Kevin Lacquement

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3 Comments

Tyler Treat Over a year ago

I am not remote. I'm running Ubuntu on my laptop.

Kevin Lacquement Over a year ago

Then if you don't have a GUI running, you can't run a GUI app.

Kevin Lacquement Over a year ago

Ah, you're running this through a terminal in X? In that case, you need to look at the terminal's instructions to ensure that the DISPLAY variable is being set properly. Unfortunately, there are as many possibilities as there are different terminals. Try using a basic terminal such as XTerm for troubleshooting.

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