How to set or change the default Java (JDK) version on OS X?

Question

How can you change the default version of Java on a mac?

Answer 1

Previously I used alias'es in .zshrc for easy switching between versions but today I use SDKMAN. SDKMAN can also handle setting default java for the system, and downloading and installing new java versions.

Once sdkman is installed you can then do commands similar to what is possible with the nvm tool for handling node versions.

sdk list java will list the java versions available on your system as well as available online for installation including their identifier that you can use in the sdk use, sdk default and sdk install commands.

e.g. to install Amazon Corretto 11.0.8 and ask if it should be the new default do this: sdk install java 11.0.8-amzn

A feature I also use regularly is the .sdkmanrc file. If you place that in a directory on your machine and run the sdk env command in the directory then you can configure tool versions used only in that directory. It is also possible to make sdkman switch tool versions automatically using the sdkman_auto_env=true configuration.

sdkman also supports handling other tools for the JVM such as gradle, kotlin, maven and more.

For more information check out https://sdkman.io/usage#env