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Java is a programming language, originally developed by Sun Microsystems, which uses a runtime to allow running Java-developed applications on various platforms. It is a popular choice for developers who want to create cross-platform applications.

What is Java?[edit | edit source]

Overview[edit | edit source]

Java is a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. The language is object-oriented and designed to run on multiple platforms without the need of recompiling code for each platform. Although Java can be compiled as a native program, much of Java's popularity can be attributed to its portability, along with other features such as automatic memory management. To make platform independence possible the Java compiler compiles the Java code to an intermediate representation called Java bytecode that runs on a JVM (Java Virtual Machine) and not directly on the operating system.

In order to run Java bytecode, one needs to have a JRE (Java Runtime Environment) installed. A JRE provides core libraries, a platform dependent JVM, plugins for browsers, among other things. A JDK (Java Development Kit) adds programming tools, such as a bytecode compiler and a debugger.

JVM languages[edit | edit source]

The Java virtual machine is not used exclusively by Java programming language. Multiple programming languages use the Java platform and run on the JVM. Examples of such include: Clojure, Apache Groovy, Kotlin or Scala.

Installing a virtual machine[edit | edit source]

The choices[edit | edit source]

Gentoo provides numerous Java Runtime Environments (JREs) and Java Development Kits (JDKs). The current choices include:

Vendor JDK
The IcedTea Open Java SE (formerly icedtea6-bin) dev-java/icedtea and dev-java/icedtea-bin
OpenJDK dev-java/openjdk and dev-java/openjdk-bin
The GCJ IcedTea GNU GCC Java (currently IcedTea-7) dev-java/icedtea sys-devel/gcc USE="gcj"

Installing a JRE/JDK[edit | edit source]

To install the profile's default JDK run:

root #emerge --ask --oneshot virtual/jdk

To install the profile's default JRE run:

root #emerge --ask --oneshot virtual/jre
Warning
Some JDKs and JREs, including the Oracle packages, require accepting an EULA (End-User License Agreement). If its license (such as dlj-1.1) is not listed in the ACCEPT_LICENSE variable (found in /etc/portage/make.conf), then it would not be possible to install the JDK/JRE. For more information on how to add acceptable licenses to make.conf read the Licenses chapter of the Portage Handbook.

To avoid any restrictive license hassle, consider installing dev-java/openjdk-bin or dev-java/icedtea-bin, which is an open Java implementation from the OpenJDK project.

Note
Be aware each JDK will include a JRE; installing a JRE is not necessary if a JDK has been emerged.

Installing IcedTea GCJ Virtual Machine[edit | edit source]

Important
gcj is deprecated and is removed in GCC versions 7.0 and greater. It is unavailable from GCC 6.0 on Gentoo. Consider this section deprecated.

The IcedTea virtual machine is provided in source code and requires compilation by a Java bytecode compiler. This bootstrapping can be executed by the GNU Compiler for Java (GCJ). This compiler is available when GCC is built with the gcj USE flag.

When GCC is rebuilt with this USE flag set, the dev-java/icedtea package can be installed. Because of a Portage bug, users need to install dev-java/gcj-jdk and dev-java/ant-core explicitly first if they are not already present.

root #emerge --ask --oneshot dev-java/gcj-jdk dev-java/ant-core
root #emerge --ask dev-java/icedtea:7

Installing fetch-restricted virtual machines[edit | edit source]

Some of the JDKs and JREs require a few extra steps in their configurations. Emerge the packages as normal. If additional steps are required the ebuilds will provide instruction for the user on where to go and what to download.

Download the indicated file(s) into /var/cache/distfiles (or the value of DISTDIR). Once the files are in the right directories, rerun the emerge command, at which point the JRE/JDK will be begin to install.

Setting up a headless JRE[edit | edit source]

Sometimes there is no need for a full JRE with all the capabilities of java. Using java on a server often does not require any GUI, graphical, sound or even printer related features. To install a simplified (sometimes also referred to as headless) JRE, a few USE flags need to be changed for the selected JRE flavor.

FILE /etc/portage/package.useRequired USE flag changes
dev-java/icedtea headless-awt -alsa -cups
dev-java/icedtea-bin headless-awt -alsa -cups
dev-java/openjdk headless-awt -alsa -cups
dev-java/openjdk-bin headless-awt -alsa -cups
dev-java/oracle-jre-bin headless-awt -alsa -cups

Depending on the current Gentoo profile, this might already be the case. As usual, the USE flag settings that are applicable to a particular package can be checked by running emerge in pretend mode:

user $emerge --pretend --verbose virtual/jre

Configuring the Java Virtual Machine[edit | edit source]

Overview[edit | edit source]

Gentoo has the ability to have multiple JDKs and JREs installed without causing conflicts.

Setting a default[edit | edit source]

The eselect command can be used to present a list of installed Java instances (be it JRE or JDK). Here is an example of the output:

root #eselect java-vm list
Available Java Virtual Machines:
  [1]   openjdk-bin-8  system-vm user-vm

The user-vm flag indicates the default JVM for the user. The system-vm flag indicates the default JVM for the system and the fallback if a user JVM is not set. The number in the brackets (i.e. [1]) is the reference for the particular JVM. To set the default system JVM:

root #eselect java-vm set system 1

To set a preferred user JVM:

user $eselect java-vm set user 1
Note
dev-java/java-config is the old mechanism used to change the system and user JVM. See java-config -h.
Note
source-ing the profile for existing shell sessions is not usually needed when changing the user or system VM. The only exception is that variables such as JAVA_HOME will still point to the old location after setting a user VM for the first time or revert back to the system VM.

Build only VM[edit | edit source]

Some virtual machines are flagged as build-only due to being EOL and/or containing security vulnerabilities. These virtual machines will not automatically be used by Gentoo for the running of applications using Gentoo launchers (run-java-tool script designed for switching VMs), but will still be available for use by Gentoo's build environment as some packages may require them for building. The setting of these virtual machines as either the system or user VM is strongly discouraged as these VMs will then be used when running the /usr/bin/{java,javac,..} executables, as well as used by any packages not using Gentoo's launcher scripts.

Setting a default CLASSPATH[edit | edit source]

Warning
The options explained in this section should be considered deprecated and will most likely be removed in the future. It is strongly recommended against using these, because Java projects or applications should ideally manage their own classpaths. When choosing to specify a default CLASSPATH, some applications may behave unexpectedly, because classes they were not expecting to be on the classpath.

java-config can also be used to set a system-wide default CLASSPATH, as well a user-specific default CLASSPATH.

First, list available Java libraries installed on the system to possibly put in the CLASSPATH variable. Here is an example of output:

root #java-config --list-available-packages
[xerces-2] The next generation of high performance, fully compliant XML parsers in the Apache Xerces family (/usr/share/xerces-2/package.env)
[junit] Simple framework to write repeatable tests (/usr/share/junit/package.env)
[bsh] BeanShell: A small embeddable Java source interpreter (/usr/share/bsh/package.env)
[bcel] The Byte Code Engineering Library: analyze, create, manipulate Java class files (/usr/share/bcel/package.env)
[log4j] A low-overhead robust logging package for Java (/usr/share/log4j/package.env)
...

Again, the names in brackets ([]) are the IDs to pass to java-config --set-system-classpath. Here is an example:

root #java-config --set-system-classpath log4j,xerces-2
Note
The current directory (.) will not be part of the system classpath, as that should be added to the system's login profile.

Update the environment by logging out, then in again or by typing source /etc/profile.

For users, java-config --set-user-classpath will create ~/.gentoo/java-env-classpath file, which should be sourced from the shell's profile.

CODE Sourcing user specific classpath
if [[ -f "${HOME}/.gentoo/java-env-classpath" ]]; then
       source ${HOME}/.gentoo/java-env-classpath
fi

If desiring a system wide or user default classpath add something like the following to the shell's profile. This is advised against:

root #export CLASSPATH="${CLASSPATH}:$(java-config --classpath log4j,xerces-2)"

Java browser plugins[edit | edit source]

Important
The Java plugin support had been deprecated in JDK 9[1].

The Java browser plugin used to be managed via eselect java-nsplugin. This has now been removed in favor of a simpler out-of-the-box experience. For basic usage, simply emerge the chosen JVM with the nsplugin USE flag enabled. Note that Oracle's plugin is only available for amd64 and x86.

Note
Note that Chromium-based browsers since version 42 and Firefox since version 52 no longer support NPAPI-based plugins[2]. This effectively disables the Java plugin on modern browsers.

For those who need a Java-enabled browser for a specific use case, there is e.g. palemoon/palemoon-bin available in the palemoon overlay, which has long-term support for NPAPI and thus Java plugins up to JDK 8[3].

For more information, including JVM selection, Web Start, and multilib, see the README installed with icedtea-web.

USE flags for use with Java[edit | edit source]

Setting USE flags[edit | edit source]

For more information regarding USE flags, refer to the USE flags chapter from the Gentoo Handbook.

USE flags[edit | edit source]

  • The java flag adds support for Java in a variety of programs;
  • The nsplugin flag adds support for Mozilla-like browsers (including Firefox). This is needed for viewing Java applets in a Mozilla-like browser;

Following USE flags go in JAVA_PKG_IUSE.

  • The source flag installs a zip of the source code of a package. This is traditionally used for IDEs to 'attach' source to the libraries that are being use;
  • For Java packages, the doc flag will build API documentation using javadoc.

Troubleshooting[edit | edit source]

Minecraft launcher errors[edit | edit source]

  • A specific error in which minecraft-launcher crashed after a few seconds, throwing "Alarm" and "SaveToBuffer failed" error was solved by setting the USE flag threads for net-misc/curl.
  • When executing minecraft-launcher the following error was produced:
user $./minecraft-launcher
[0229/184549.183275:ERROR:sandbox_linux.cc(346)] InitializeSandbox() called with multiple threads in process gpu-process.

This was solved by executing minecraft-launcher with the following option:

user $MESA_GLSL_CACHE_DISABLE=true ./minecraft-launcher

See also[edit | edit source]

External resources[edit | edit source]

More information can be found offline:

  • man java-config
  • java-config --help

For suggestions or questions regarding this document, please email the Gentoo Java team: java@gentoo.org

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ JDK 9 and the Java Plugin, java.com. Retrieved on November 30, 2018
  2. ↑ How do I enable Java in my web browser?, java.com. Retrieved on November 30, 2018
  3. ↑ Pale Moon future roadmap, palemoon.org. Retrieved on June 28, 2019

This page is based on a document formerly found on our main website gentoo.org.
The following people contributed to the original document: Joshua Nichols, Karl Trygve Kalleberg,
They are listed here because wiki history does not allow for any external attribution. If you edit the wiki article, please do not add yourself here; your contributions are recorded on each article's associated history page.

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