Using java 1.6 on OSX
This post is part of the archive. It was written years ago, so some of the tools, versions and links may be outdated.
Since the Java support for OSX has moved from Apple to Oracle. The old Java version are no longer shown in the oracle control panel:
But there is a command line tool for selecting the java version:
$ /usr/libexec/java_home -h
Usage: java_home [options...]
Returns the path to a Java home directory from the current user's settings.
Options:
[-v/--version <version>] Filter Java versions in the "JVMVersion" form 1.X(+ or *).
[-a/--arch <architecture>] Filter JVMs matching architecture (i386, x86_64, etc).
[-d/--datamodel <datamodel>] Filter JVMs capable of -d32 or -d64
[-t/--task <task>] Use the JVM list for a specific task (Applets, WebStart, BundledApp, JNI, or CommandLine)
[-F/--failfast] Fail when filters return no JVMs, do not continue with default.
[ --exec <command> ...] Execute the $JAVA_HOME/bin/<command> with the remaining arguments.
[-R/--request] Request installation of a Java Runtime if not installed.
[-X/--xml] Print full JVM list and additional data as XML plist.
[-V/--verbose] Print full JVM list with architectures.
[-h/--help] This usage information.
You can check if you have a specific java version installed with this command:
/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.6*
If 1.6 isn’t installed on your machine you can get it from here.
To use Java 1.6 in command line context add this line to your ~/.bash_profile:
export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -d64 -v 1.6*`