How to find the JVM version from a program?

Question

I want to write a sample Java file in which I want to know the JVM version in which the class is running. Is there a way?

few notes. System properties are meant for that but DO keep in mind it's a privileged operation and applets/webstart/sand boxed code will not be able to execute it (getting SecurityException). Normally you'd like to run it in similar way `AccessController.doPrivileged(new PrivilegedAction(...)); ` — bestsss, Feb 24 '11 at 11:34
@bestsss While some properties are only available to applets that are trusted: `java.specification.version`, `java.version` & `java.vm.version` are all available to a sand-boxed applet, or at least they were as of `1.6.0_23`. See [my answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/5105344/418556) for more details. — Andrew Thompson, Jun 13 '14 at 10:53
Possible duplicate of [Getting Java version at runtime](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2591083/getting-java-version-at-runtime) — BuZZ-dEE, Aug 15 '19 at 11:40

score 153 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 24 '11 at 10:10

153

System.getProperty("java.version") returns what you need.

You can also use JMX if you want:

ManagementFactory.getRuntimeMXBean().getVmVersion()

answered Feb 24 '11 at 10:10

AlexR

114,158
16
130
208

6

That JMX call returns the equivalent of "java.vm.version", not "java.version". These are usually (but not necessarily) the same. – Alex Miller Jun 21 '13 at 15:54
2

ManagementFactory.getRuntimeMXBean().getSpecVersion() may be more accurate. – auntyellow Dec 09 '14 at 06:04
When are they different, @AlexMiller? That sounds interesting. – DavidS Jul 08 '15 at 00:26
2

Actually, I'd say they're *not* the same. The java.vm.version is the jvm version number, something like "25.0-b70" whereas the java.version is the normal java language version you're used to seeing "1.8.0". – Alex Miller Jul 08 '15 at 02:19
3

Worth noting that the Java 9 will change the returned value from this string. – AlBlue Apr 20 '16 at 19:12

score 96 · Answer 2 · edited May 27 '19 at 05:45

Use:

System.getProperty("java.version");

Where java.version can be replaced with one of the many other system properties related to the current Java version. Here is a table of them:

 Property                        Value (OpenJDK 12)                        Value (Oracle JRE 8u201)                Value (Sun JRE 5u22)                                 Description
------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 java.version                    "12"                                      "1.8.0_201"                             "1.5.0_22"                                           Java Runtime Environment version, which may be interpreted as a Runtime.Version
 java.version.date               "2019-03-19"                              null                                    null                                                 Java Runtime Environment version date, in ISO-8601 YYYY-MM-DD format, which may be interpreted as a LocalDate
 java.vendor                     "Oracle Corporation"                      "Oracle Corporation"                    "Sun Microsystems Inc."                              Java Runtime Environment vendor
 java.vendor.version             null                                      null                                    null                                                 Java vendor version
 java.vendor.url                 "https://java.oracle.com/"                "http://java.oracle.com/"               "http://java.sun.com/"                               Java vendor URL
 java.vendor.url.bug             "https://bugreport.java.com/bugreport/"   "http://bugreport.sun.com/bugreport/"   "http://java.sun.com/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi"          Undocumented
 java.specification.name         "Java Platform API Specification"         "Java Platform API Specification"       "Java Platform API Specification"                    Java Runtime Environment specification name
 java.specification.vendor       "Oracle Corporation"                      "Oracle Corporation"                    "Sun Microsystems Inc."                              Java Runtime Environment specification vendor
 java.specification.version      "12"                                      "1.8"                                   "1.5"                                                Java Runtime Environment specification version, whose value is the feature element of the runtime version
 java.vm.name                    "OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM"                "Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM"     "Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM"                  Java Virtual Machine implementation name
 java.vm.vendor                  "Oracle Corporation"                      "Oracle Corporation"                    "Sun Microsystems Inc."                              Java Virtual Machine implementation vendor
 java.vm.version                 "12+33"                                   "25.201-b09"                            "1.5.0_22-b03"                                       Java Virtual Machine implementation version which may be interpreted as a Runtime.Version
 java.vm.info                    "mixed mode, sharing"                     "mixed mode"                            "mixed mode"                                         Undocumented
 java.vm.specification.name      "Java Virtual Machine Specification"      "Java Virtual Machine Specification"    "Java Virtual Machine Specification"                 Java Virtual Machine specification name
 java.vm.specification.vendor    "Oracle Corporation"                      "Oracle Corporation"                    "Sun Microsystems Inc."                              Java Virtual Machine specification vendor
 java.vm.specification.version   "12"                                      "1.8"                                   "1.0"                                                Java Virtual Machine specification version, whose value is the feature element of the runtime version
 java.runtime.name               "OpenJDK Runtime Environment"             "Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment"       "Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition"   Undocumented
 java.runtime.version            "12+33"                                   "1.8.0_201-b09"                         "1.5.0_22-b03"                                       Undocumented
 java.class.version              "56.0"                                    "52.0"                                  "49.0"                                               Java class format version number
 jdk.debug                       "release"                                 null                                    null                                                 Undocumented
 sun.java.launcher               "SUN_STANDARD"                            "SUN_STANDARD"                          "SUN_STANDARD"                                       Undocumented
 sun.management.compiler         "HotSpot 64-Bit Tiered Compilers"         "HotSpot 64-Bit Tiered Compilers"       "HotSpot 64-Bit Server Compiler"                     Undocumented

Sources:

Output of java -XshowSettings:all -version for a variety of JVM versions.
Java API Reference documentation for System.getProperties()

Andrew Thompson · Answer 3 · 2019-12-21T00:05:30.513

61

It seems the java.specification.version is the best one for the job.

E.G.

java.specification.version  1.6
java.version    1.6.0_23
java.vm.version 19.0-b09
java.runtime.version    1.6.0_23-b05

edited Dec 21 '19 at 00:05

answered Feb 24 '11 at 13:34

Andrew Thompson

168,117
40
217
433

2

`java.vm.version` is null in openjdk-11-headless – User8461 Mar 09 '19 at 20:06
3

@User8461 Maybe you should raise a bug report with whoever oversees the open JDK, To be honest I've not seen much point to finding out that value. Here it is currently `25.45-b02` .. which means nothing (provides no useful information) to me. – Andrew Thompson Mar 09 '19 at 20:14

score 13 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 24 '11 at 10:09

13

Simply a case of calling System.getProperty("java.version").

answered Feb 24 '11 at 10:09

Finbarr

31,350
13
63
94

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 30 '17 at 12:58

5

Just simply call,

System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.specification.version"));
System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.runtime.version"));

Example output:

9
9+176

answered Jun 30 '17 at 12:58

Soner from The Ottoman Empire

18,731
3
79
101

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered May 09 '16 at 13:34

Below java code returns JVM versions which are available in your current IDE

List<VirtualMachineDescriptor> descriptors = VirtualMachine.list();
          for (VirtualMachineDescriptor descriptor : descriptors) {
              System.out.println("Found JVM: " + descriptor.displayName());
              try {
                  VirtualMachine vm = VirtualMachine.attach(descriptor);
                  String version = vm.getSystemProperties().getProperty("java.runtime.version");
                  System.out.println("   Runtime Version: " + version);

                   String connectorAddress = vm.getAgentProperties().getProperty("com.sun.management.jmxremote.localConnectorAddress");
                  if (connectorAddress == null) {

                      connectorAddress = vm.getAgentProperties().getProperty("com.sun.management.jmxremote.localConnectorAddress");
                  }

                  JMXServiceURL url = new JMXServiceURL(connectorAddress);
                  JMXConnector connector = JMXConnectorFactory.connect(url);
                  MBeanServerConnection mbs = connector.getMBeanServerConnection();

                  ObjectName threadName = new ObjectName(ManagementFactory.THREAD_MXBEAN_NAME);
                  Integer threadCount = (Integer)mbs.getAttribute(threadName, "ThreadCount");
                  System.out.println("    Thread count: " + threadCount);
              }
              catch (Exception e) {
                  // ...
              }

output:

Found JVM: /home/.../STS IDE/sts-bundle/sts-3.7.2.RELEASE//plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.3.100.v20150511-1540.jar -os linux -ws gtk -arch x86_64 -showsplash -launcher /home/.../STS IDE/sts-bundle/sts-3.7.2.RELEASE/STS -name STS --launcher.library /home/.../STS IDE/sts-bundle/sts-3.7.2.RELEASE//plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.gtk.linux.x86_64_1.1.300.v20150602-1417/eclipse_1612.so -startup /home/.../STS IDE/sts-bundle/sts-3.7.2.RELEASE//plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.3.100.v20150511-1540.jar --launcher.overrideVmargs -exitdata 1ad000f -product org.springsource.sts.ide -vm /usr/bin/java -vmargs -Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.7 -Xms40m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m -Xverify:none -Xmx1200m -jar /home/.../STS IDE/sts-bundle/sts-3.7.2.RELEASE//plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.3.100.v20150511-1540.jar
   Runtime Version: 1.8.0_91-b14
Found JVM: com.intellij.idea.Main
   Runtime Version: 1.8.0_91-b14
Found JVM: Test
   Runtime Version: 1.7.0_80-b15

score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Depending on what one needs, the other answers can help.

In my case, they didn't. I was looking for the "fully qualified" version information of a IBM JDK.

So, the "real" answer can be: just dump all system properties and check if there is one that gives you what you are looking for.

In my case; I found that the IBM JDK knows a

Property: java.fullversion

JRE 1.8.0 IBM J9 2.8 Linux amd64-64 Compressed References 20161013_322271 (JIT enabled, AOT enabled)

J9VM - R28_Java8_SR3_20161013_1635_B322271

JIT - tr.r14.java.green_20161011_125790

GC - R28_Java8_SR3_20161013_1635_B322271_CMPRSS J9CL - 20161013_322271

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 06 '21 at 21:10

2

Since Java 9 we have a new static method: Runtime.version().

The object returned has interesting methods such as feature() or compareToIgnoreOptional() what might be easier to work with (e.g. Runtime.version().feature() >= 11).

answered Dec 06 '21 at 21:10

Adam Kotwasinski

4,377
3
17
40

Unfortunately I couldn't find a nice list of constant fields, so we can't write `Runtime.version(). compareToIgnoreOptional(Something.V11)` or similar. A kinda-workaround would be to use `Runtime.Version.parse("11")`. – Adam Kotwasinski Dec 06 '21 at 21:14

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Apr 20 '16 at 12:07

0

Information about versions is stored as a properties of System class.

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/lang/System.html#getProperties%28%29

answered Apr 20 '16 at 12:07

Abbath

51
7

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Dec 12 '16 at 09:02

System.getProperty("sun.arch.data.model");

Java 32 Bit and 64 Bit Control

    Integer vers = Integer.parseInt(System.getProperty("java.version").split("\\.")[1]);
    String bitMode = System.getProperty("sun.arch.data.model").toString();
    System.out.println(vers);
    System.out.println(bitMode);

Output :

6
32

mahee96 · Answer 11 · 2023-08-31T07:03:46.940

we can use the JVM runtime's class bytecode version to check against required JVM release:

This solution doesn't depend on any Enum constants etc and is backward compatible.

NOTE: This solution works irrespective of the bytecode version of the current executing class or other classes/jars in runtime classpath because the property reflects the assigned bytecode version for a given JDK release.

example: if a class is compiled at sourceCompatibility/targetCompatiblity 1.8/release level 8, but if it is executed using Java 11 JDK/runtime, then the java.class.version system property value will still be 55(Java11) though the executing class bytecode level is 52(Java8).

public class Java9Check{
    public static void main(String[] args){
        String bytecodeStr = System.getProperty("java.class.version");
        try {
            double bytecodeVal = Double.parseDouble(bytecodeStr);
            int bytecode = (int) bytecodeVal;
            // if Java 8 or below, return ExitCode(1)
            if (bytecode < 53) {
                System.out.println("Java8 or below");
                System.exit(1);
            }
            System.out.println("Java9 or above");
        } catch (NumberFormatException ignored) {}
        // proceed with normal exit, ExitCode(0)
    }
}

JDK Version  Class File Version
Java 1.0     45.0
Java 1.1     45.3
Java 1.2     46.0
Java 1.3     47.0
Java 1.4     48.0
Java 5       49.0
Java 6       50.0
Java 7       51.0
Java 8       52.0
Java 9       53.0
Java 10      54.0
Java 11      55.0
Java 12      56.0
Java 13      57.0
Java 14      58.0
Java 15      59.0
Java 16      60.0
Java 17      61.0
Java 18      62.0
Java 19      63.0
Java 20      64.0
Java 21      65.0
Java 22      66.0

How to find the JVM version from a program?

11 Answers11

Linked

Related