Gatk java - yvancouver/Workflow GitHub Wiki
From the GATK web site GATK troubleshooting,
Make sure that your Java version is at least 1.6, by typing the following command:
java -version
Expected Result
You should see something similar to the following text:
java version "1.6.0_12"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_12-b04)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.2-b01, mixed mode)
We should not update to 1.7 according to these threads 1 2
GATK needs java 1.6
update 5 Sept. 2013
from GATK from GATK 2.5 java 7 will be needed