How to run STS on Java version 1.7

Question

I need to run eclipse(java 1.7) and STS 3.8.1 ( java 1.8) but if i select the java 7 as default i am getting error in the STS 3.8.1. I am using OS : ubuntu 14.10

Answer 1

This question is old, but for anyone looking at this in the future who can't install Java 8 or otherwise can't use the workaround in the other answer - 3.8.0 was the first version requiring Java 1.8, while 3.7.3 still plays nice with only Java 1.7.