Installing Java

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1. Installing Java

JIRA requires Oracle's (formerly Sun's) Java Development Kit (JDK) or Java Runtime Environment (JRE) platform to run. Refer to Supported Platforms for details on the Java platform versions that JIRA supports.

Oracle's JDK/JRE can be downloaded from Oracle's website.

Linux distributions frequently have an open-source implementation of Java called GCJ installed. Do not use this Java platform — it is incomplete and JIRA will not run successfully on it.

You can test whether you have the correct Java platform by running java -version:

~$ java -version
java version "1.6.0"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0-b105)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0-b105, mixed mode, sharing)

On recent Linux distributions, Oracle's (formerly Sun's) JDK can be installed with a command like sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk (for Ubuntu).

On some X.org-based distros (eg. Fedora Core 4), you may see an error like this:

java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: /opt/j2sdk1.4.2_11/jre/lib/i386/libawt.so: libXp.so.6: cannot open
        shared object file: No such file or directory

If you do, you will need to install the xorg-x11-deprecated-libs package (Fedora) or equivalent (check Google).

2. Setting JAVA_HOME

Once the JDK or JRE is installed, you will need to set the JAVA_HOME environment variable, whose value is the root directory of the JDK/JRE.

Some JDK/JRE installers set this automatically (check by typing 'echo %JAVA_HOME%' in a Windows command prompt, or 'echo $JAVA_HOME' in a Linux/UNIX console).

Linux-based computers

On many Linux-based computers, the JAVA_HOME environment variable is set in the /etc/environment file.

If JAVA_HOME is not defined in this file, you can set it using the following command at a shell prompt, when logged in with 'root' level permissions:

• echo JAVA_HOME="path/to/JAVA_HOME" >> /etc/environment

If, however, JAVA_HOME is already defined in this file, open the /etc/environment file in a text editor and modify its value to the appropriate path/to/JAVA_HOME — that is:

• JAVA_HOME="path/to/JAVA_HOME"

Windows-based computers

If this environment variable is not set on a Windows-based computer, you can set it in the Control Panel using the following procedure:

1. Open the Windows 'Advanced' system properties dialog box:
   • On Windows XP-based operating systems, right-click on the My Computer icon on your desktop (or via the Start menu), select 'Properties' and click the 'Advanced' tab.
   • On Windows 7-based operating systems, right-click the Computer icon on your desktop (or via the Start menu), select 'Properties', click 'Advanced system settings', select 'Properties' and click the 'Advanced' tab.
2. Click the Environment Variables button.
3. Click one of the New buttons (to define a new environment variable for your user account, or if available, system-wide).
4. Type JAVA_HOME as the variable name and the directory where you installed Java.
   requirements-setting_javahome.jpg
5. After clicking the required 'OK' buttons to save your changes, your JAVA_HOME environment variable should be available in a new command prompt window. If not or if necessary, restart your computer.

3. Confirming that Java Works

Once the steps above have been done, it should be possible to open a Windows command prompt and type %JAVA_HOME%\bin\java -version (or "%JAVA_HOME%"\bin\java -version if your %JAVA_HOME% value contains spaces) and see output similar to this:

java version "1.6.0_19"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_19-b04)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 16.2-b04, mixed mode, sharing)

If you subsequently start JIRA and you receive an error like Windows cannot find '-Xms128m', then you may not have correctly set JAVA_HOME. Please verify step 2 of the procedure above.

Next Step

Installing JIRA from an Archive File on Windows, Linux or Solaris