Where is JAVA_HOME on macOS Mojave (10.14) to Lion (10.7)?

On macOS, the JAVA_HOME environment variable is typically set in the /etc/launchd.conf file.

To set the JAVA_HOME variable on macOS Mojave (10.14) or later, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Terminal application.
  2. Run the following command to determine the path to your JDK installation:
/usr/libexec/java_home

This command will output the path to the current JDK installation, such as /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_231.jdk/Contents/Home.

  1. Run the following command to open the /etc/launchd.conf file in a text editor:
sudo nano /etc/launchd.conf
  1. Add the following line to the file, replacing /path/to/jdk with the path you obtained in step 2:
setenv JAVA_HOME /path/to/jdk

  1. Save the file and exit the text editor.

  2. Run the following command to apply the changes:

launchctl setenv JAVA_HOME /path/to/jdk

You should now be able to use the JAVA_HOME environment variable in your terminal sessions.

On macOS Lion (10.7) or earlier, the JAVA_HOME variable is typically set in the ~/.bash_profile file. To set the JAVA_HOME variable on these versions of macOS, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Terminal application.
  2. Run the following command to determine the path to your JDK installation:
/usr/libexec/java_home

This command will output the path to the current JDK installation,