53

Just installed a fresh version of Kepler 64bit "for Java Developers" on Yosemite, getting this error on first launch. Any thoughts on how to fix? Really do not want to downgrade my Java version!

Bradley Thomas
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    This is probably more suited to [Ask Different](http://apple.stackexchange.com/) than SO. – GoBusto Nov 10 '14 at 15:44
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    Disagree. Eclipse is an essential IDE for many software developers – Bradley Thomas Nov 10 '14 at 15:46
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    Indeed, but this question isn't about programming per se - it's more about OSX system set-up, so the Ask Different users might have more insight into this. – GoBusto Nov 10 '14 at 15:51
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    They may, but this isn't about system setup. This is about setup of a developer tool. I don't want to change my system configuration. Questions about developer tools are explicitly on topic, on Stack Overflow, as outlined in the Stack Overflow help. http://stackoverflow.com/help/on-topic – Bradley Thomas Nov 10 '14 at 16:01
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    Running the Java 8 JDK (rather than the JRE) worked for me but this does seem to vary a lot for different users. – greg-449 Nov 10 '14 at 16:14
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    How is it possible that in 2019 Eclipse still opens a Java 6 dialog instead of letting me use `.sdkman/candidates/java/current`. F*** salt – vault Jan 11 '19 at 13:22
  • Java via SDKMAN! can be used by configuring eclipse.ini; see https://stackoverflow.com/a/65694738/186818 – dpdearing Jan 13 '21 at 02:13

7 Answers7

36

I just encountered this in another Eclipse-based app on Yosemite and figured out (with help from the references below) how to get the app running without installing the legacy Java SE 6 JRE. Here are the steps in case it helps other devs get Eclipse working.

PRECONDITIONS

$ sw_vers -productVersion 
10.10.1
$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_25"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_25-b17)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.25-b02, mixed mode)

Other configurations might work; this is my environment.

STEPS

  1. Edit the info.plist for the JDK after installing:

    $ sudo nano `/usr/libexec/java_home -V`/../info.plist

  2. Change the following section:

    <key>JVMCapabilities</key>
 <array>
  <string>CommandLine</string>
 </array>

    to 

    <key>JVMCapabilities</key>
 <array>
  <string>JNI</string>
  <string>BundledApp</string>
  <string>WebStart</string>
  <string>Applets</string>
  <string>CommandLine</string>
 </array>

  3. Try to open the app from the command-line (not sure if this is strictly necessary, but what I did)

    You should get an error "(app) can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer."

  4. Go to System Preferences: Security Settings (General) and you should see the recent app next to a button "Open Anyway" -- click this button to open the app.

This opens Eclipse without requiring the separate download of the legacy Java SE 6 files.

NOTES

When I was solving this on MTGBrowser (below) I also followed advice to change the info.plist of the app by adding the following section to the 'Eclipse' key:

<string>-vm</string><string>/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_25.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java</string>

However, I'm not sure that's strictly required. In any case, that wasn't sufficient -- I also had to change the JDK info.plist and security as described above for a complete solution.

REFERENCES

Larry Kyrala
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    This is the best answer. Also, confirmed that you don't need to add anything to the Eclipse key as mentioned in the "NOTES" section. – Dan Apr 22 '15 at 18:15
  • I removed the -V from the java_home command because it printed a lot of extra lines. The Installer launched without requesting Java 6. But then it threw a NullPointerException and then hung. – philburk Jan 28 '17 at 19:43
31

I was facing this trouble for hours. I followed every suggestion I could find over numerous forums with no success. I resolved the issue by simply installing 1.8.x JDK instead of the JRE, despite having no intension to develop for Java. I guess eclipse requires this.

daniel
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    Given that it's a Java IDE intended originally to develop in Java, that's not much of a stretch. – Nathan Tuggy Mar 08 '15 at 03:17
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    Worked for me! I didn't want to install the legacy Java 6 or manually mess with configuration files so this was the best solution, even though I don't intend to develop in Java either. – Ariel Apr 02 '15 at 09:12
  • Actually, you will get to this answer as soon as you do `java -version` according to Larry Kyrala's answer and realise you have to install the JDK (at least I got the message). So thanks to both Larry and Daniel :-). – esco_ May 03 '15 at 12:15
  • I'm getting the above issue on Yosemite with java version "1.7.0_45" - so why is it the case that Yosemite/Eclipse needs java 6 or 8, but not 7? – Black May 04 '15 at 09:44
14

I ended up relenting and downloading Java 6 from here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1572?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Apparently this seems to coexist ok with the latest Java version which I also installed (version 8 update 25) and version 8 shows up as the version I'm running when I verify from

https://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

I'm unclear on the security implications of this though, would have preferred another solution, if anyone finds a better solution than installing 6 please let me know.

Bradley Thomas
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    OK, I did vote for this answer (which was a quick solution, and worked). Seems like there has to be a better solution (than downloading 80MB of software that isn't used). Thanks for links, etc. – Booger Nov 24 '14 at 16:11
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    80MB of software isn't the problem, the problem is that Java 6 is [far past EOL](http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html) and won't be receiving updates anymore. It's a significant security hole on your system and any solution that involves installing Java 6 this late in the game must be the wrong one. – James B Mar 20 '15 at 18:47
  • This got me part of the way there. I then needed to go here: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7-downloads-1880260.html. For Mac I needed to download jdk-7u79-macosx-x64.dmg – Bueno Feb 25 '16 at 14:23
  • The latest versions of Eclipse do not support Java 6 – ZhekaKozlov Dec 16 '16 at 09:03
5

tldr; This error may indicate you don't have Java, and you can fix by installing the latest version of Java instead of the "legacy" version

I received this error while installing Eclipse on a fresh MacBook with macOS Sierra, version 10.12.3, which apparently does not have ANY java installed. I made the problem go away by installing java version 1.8 JDK and then had no trouble installing Eclipse after.

i.e. before installing

MacBook-Pro:$ java -version
No Java runtime present, requesting install.

and after installing

MacBook-Pro:$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_121"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_121-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.121-b13, mixed mode)
Aniket Thakur
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Mark Chackerian
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1

My Mac crashed and after the restart I had the same issue. Turned out that for some reason the file /usr/libexec/java_home was missing. After symlinking it to /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/Current/Commands/java_home, Eclipse now starts without any complains.

VHristov
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0

I had JDK 7 installed on Yosemite, and upgrading Eclipse to Luna fixed this issue for me

Black
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0

For me this worked :

Edit /Applications/mat.app/Contents/Info.plist

And at he bottom where the to use a specific Java version section start you reference the libjli.dylib like so

<string>-vm</string><string>/Users/jkuperus/.sdkman/candidates/java/11.0.2-open//lib/jli/libjli.dylib</string>
Jelmer
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