where is java installed?

where on the mac is Java installed? I have java 1.6, but I want 1.5 (since will be running Tomcat 5.5..) also, it says here,
http://www.javatester.org/version.html
that Java that comes with the mac comes from Apple and not from Sun, and that it tends to be buggy, so I might as well install it on my own.. my main question is: where do I install it? I don't know b/c can't find the install that is there now (found version by typing java -version in unix shell, but when search for "java" I can't find where sdk/jre is installed.. )

......l

acutally, ran a search, found Java install in system/.../frameworks/javaVM.framework.. so do I install 1.5 in system/.../frameworks/?? (need to make very sure two installs, 1.6 and 1.5, are kept separately, too bad javaVM.framework dir doesn't have version in its name (if I un-install 1.6, would that adversely affect anything in the machine I don't know about that needs java 1.6 to function?)

thank you..

iMac

Posted on Oct 3, 2010 2:11 PM

19 replies

etresoft

Level 9

56,326 points

Oct 5, 2010 7:10 PM in response to kali90

kali90 wrote:
how does Tomcat find the compiler without the JAVA_HOME variable?

Tomcat doesn't need the compiler. It only needs the runtime. You need the compiler to build the byte code.

I'm not sure about the JAVA_HOME environment variable. I'm all in favor of removing any setting if I don't need it. "export JAVA_HOME=/Home/Java/Home" really isn't right anyway, so just get rid of it.

at any rate, thank you very very much for your help and your patience.. I really appreciate it..

No problem. I'm sorry I didn't try out Tomcat myself sooner. I had always assumed it was much more difficult than that to get running. To hear the Java programmers at work talk, the least minor upgrade to Tomcat or another Java piece makes everything stop working. Perhaps the problem isn't with Java in that case 🙂

kali90 Author

Level 1

25 points

Oct 6, 2010 6:20 AM in response to etresoft

yeah, funny how some things seem so complicated, then once you learn them they turn out to be much simpler.. the first time I installed Tomcat on my machine six years ago it took me almost a week to figure out how to set it up; now I can set up Tomcat on Windows in about two minutes..

I'm actually having some issues with Tomcat 6 (beyond the scope of this thread, or any forum here, of course), and there's a slight possibility I might have to stay w/Tomcat 5.5, for which I would need to change Java versions; as mentioned before, when I go to Java Prefs app, I only see 1.6, am I supposed to type in the version I want? because someone pointed me to a dir the other day, /....JavaJVM/..../versions/, which shows there are tons of versions installed there, going back all the way to 1.3, believe it or not.. but I when go to Java Prefs App I only see 1.6...

once again thank you very much for your help..

etresoft

Level 9

56,326 points

Oct 6, 2010 8:21 AM in response to kali90

kali90 wrote:
here are tons of versions installed there, going back all the way to 1.3, believe it or not.. but I when go to Java Prefs App I only see 1.6...

Not really. Those are just symbolic links to your current Java version. In theory, Java 6 should be backwards compatible. If it isn't, I believe one of my earlier posts included a link to a hack to get an older Java installed on Snow Leopard.

kali90 Author

Level 1

25 points

Oct 7, 2010 6:49 PM in response to etresoft

have Tomcat 5.5 running fine, also w/o setting JAVA_HOME variable.. (I guess tomcat on the mac finds the correct version of java or something..) even though it says here, http://www.editrocket.com/articles/tomcat_mac.html to set it, and it's interesting, it says to set it inside tomcat/bin/startup.sh.. but well, have a prob w/both Tomcat 6 and Tomcat 5.5, which is that on one of my apps am getting a runtime error, a NullPointerException, looked @ logs, opened jsp servlet, found line cited in log file.. it's a variable that refers to images in 'imaages' folder for my photo site.. I don't get this error either online on my website or in tomcat in my old windows machine.. am frustrated now, not sure what to do about this.. but well, not the scope of this thread, or this forum....;-) once again thank you very much for yr help..

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where is java installed?