Intellij IDEA using java7 compiler to compile when I have configured it to use Java6

Question

I have set the Module SDK to 1.6

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I have also set the Project SDK to 1.6

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and I also change Java compiler options from setting to use java 6

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but still it is using java 7 to compile. When I compile or run it gives following error

Using javac 1.7.0_11 to compile java sources
java: Errors occurred while compiling module 'SSLJava6'
Compilation completed with 1 error and 0 warnings in 1 sec
1 error
0 warnings
java: javacTask: source release 1.7 requires target release 1.7

Has anyone faced such problem before? What must be done?

Output of java -version

[aniket@localhost jndiProperties]$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_30"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_30-b12)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.5-b03, mixed mode)

and my JAVA_HOME is also set to same.

What does `javac -version` show? And are you using maven to build? — maba, Sep 12 '13 at 06:13
javac -version shows also shows javac 1.6.0_30 and no I am not using maven. — Aniket Thakur, Sep 12 '13 at 06:35
@gorex yes there are but all of them are compiled in java6 only. — Aniket Thakur, Sep 12 '13 at 09:00
Did you try the menu option Build -> Rebuild project? Restart IntelliJ? File -> Invalidate Caches? — vikingsteve, Sep 12 '13 at 09:03
I would have tried to uninstall Java 7 and see what happens. Then reinstall it as it's needed, of course. — EpicPandaForce, Aug 06 '14 at 09:00

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 14 '13 at 13:36

Interesting.

Questions:

Check that c:\Users\$user\.IntelliJIdea12\config\options\jdk.table.xml has a reference to JDK6 only.

This is what the file looks like for me:

If there is a reference to a JDK 7 in there then delete the corresponding <jdk> element and restart Intellij.
I know that you have confirmed the java and javac path. Confirm the javac being used by writing a simple HelloWorld.java in a brand new Intellij project.

If in the new project javac6 is used, then it's an issue with the old project configuration.
If there is a public JRE 7 lurking about, try un-installing it temporarily. After un-installation check that there is no cruft left behind in the Windows registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment
Check whether the build fails if you rename the JDK7 home dir. If so, try symlinking the JDK7 dir to point to the Java6 installation dir. In the windows world the following will work to do the symlink : mklink /J c:\Java7Home c:\ExistingJava6Home

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 10 '16 at 06:27

Try setting your IDEA_JDK_64 environment variable to point to your java SDK you want intelliJ to use for example 'D:\Programs\Java\jdk1.9'.

I encountered this issue when installing the new java 9 early access jdk and trying to run it on intelliJ 15.

This fixed it on IntelliJ 16 EAP versions.

Intellij IDEA using java7 compiler to compile when I have configured it to use Java6

2 Answers2

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