How to uninstall Java for OS X 2015-001 from Sierra

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Level 1

10 points

How to uninstall Java for OS X 2015-001 from Sierra

I just upgraded to Sierra (on top of El Capitan), and it seems mostly OK.

As I did with El Capitan, I downloaded Java OS X 2015-001 to enable installation of Adobe Illustrator CS6 (other CS6 apps work fine without this). Illustrator then opened and functioned well.

What I don't remember from last time is how to safely uninstall Java. I found conflicting responses online. Is this Terminal procedure I found at Oracle safe to use? https://java.com/en/download/help/mac_uninstall_java.xml

More importantly, it would be good to know if Java still poses security issues. Or have things changed in macOS that keep Java from doing any harm? This Adobe Ai CS6 installation is the only reason for me to touch Java.

Thanks in advance.

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12), 1TB SSD, 32GB, DSL

Posted on Oct 14, 2016 9:45 PM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,210 points

Oct 17, 2016 8:56 AM in response to gd0

The primary vector for Java exploits is the Web Plug-in to run Java Applets in the browser. What you need it for is not a web plug-in. For whatever reason, Adobe is unable to make Ai work with a current version of Java so you must install the unsupported Java 6.

Safari blocks the web applet plug-in unless you specifically allow a website to use it. However, you can remove the Java Applet Plugin from /Library/Internet Plug-Ins to prevent any browser from using it.

As to uninstalling, those instructions are for the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) web applet plugin, not a Java Development Kit (JDK).

You can remove Java 6 by removing the Applet Plug-in as mentioned above, and by removing the 1.6.0 jdk folder from /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines.

Because Sierra dropped complete support for Java, the installer will install the Java framework files that were once part of the OS into the system folders. I don't know how to uninstall all of those, but they are not large and without a JDK in the JVM folder, java will not run.

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Answer 2

gd0 Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 16, 2016 5:29 PM in response to Barney-15E

Hey Barney

Thanks for the reply. After reading it 3 times, I went ahead and trashed the items you mentioned. But it seems they need to stay there in order to run Illustrator. I'm sure that wasn't the case the last time I upgraded OSX.

I reinstalled Java JDK(?) and Illustrator works fine again.

If it must stay there, can you tell me (in plain language 🙂) if the Java items I've installed to enable Illustrator pose any threat to my iMac and/or Sierra? I do use Firefox sparingly, but 99% Safari.

Thanx again.

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,210 points

Oct 17, 2016 8:55 AM in response to gd0

Because of the security updates, nothing you installed is known to be a threat.

When you installed the Java 6 package, I don't think it installs the Web Applet plug-in which was what was being exploited. You can check in the /Library/Internet Plug-ins folder to see if it is there. If so, you can delete it. However, it is disabled in Safari by default.

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