Switching to Java 8 - themaplelab/swan GitHub Wiki

Switching to Java 8

If you are not using Java 8 and wish to retain your current Java version, you can do the following after installing Java 8. Credit. Add the following to your ~/.bash_profile (macOS) or ~/.bashrc (Linux).

macOS

alias j<YOUR_VERSION>="export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v <YOUR_VERSION>`; java -version"
alias j8="export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 8`; java -version"

Linux

You will need to check /usr/lib/jvm for the directory name of your current version.

alias j<YOUR_VERSION>="export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/lib/jvm/YOUR_JAVA_DIR/bin/java`; java -version"
alias j8="export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/bin/java`; java -version"

Where <YOUR_VERSION> is your current Java version you wish to revert back to afterwards. Your can find your current Java version by typing java -version. Make sure to source after.

Then, you can switch Java version by using the alias. e.g.

$ j8
java version "1.8.0_201"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_201-b09)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.201-b09, mixed mode)

Note that this only temporarily sets your Java version. If you have downloaded Java 8 but do not want it to be your default, you can add the export ... part of the command to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile.