How can I prevent command line java processes from stealing focus in OSX?

Question

Has anyone else noticed that their command line java applications in OSX create GUI processes that steal focus(ie, groovy, maven sub processes)? I'm finding it extremely annoying; probably b/c I've been living with it for like 6-8 months since I think OSX v10.6?

How can I prevent java processes from doing this in OSX?

score 26 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 14 '12 at 16:58

26

Eventually I found the basic solution:

For Java applications in general you can specify that they are 'headless', by adding the option -Djava.awt.headless=true to your java application.

answered Mar 14 '12 at 16:58

dsummersl

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I found that the order mattered in my case. I was calling `java -jar /path/to/my.jar -Djava.awt.headless=true`. Changed to `java -Djava.awt.headless=true -jar /path/to/my.jar` and it fixed it. `java version "1.8.0_72"` `Darwin 15.0.0 Darwin Kernel Version 15.0.0: Sat Sep 19 15:53:46 PDT` `2015; root:xnu-3247.10.11~1/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64 i386` – Will Charlton Mar 03 '17 at 21:29

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 21 '12 at 22:40

2

Add to your shell configuration, e.g., .bashrc:

export MAVEN_OPTS=-Djava.awt.headless=true

answered May 21 '12 at 22:40

bobfoster

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this is not good enough, you need to pass it to sub processes in maven as well. – Jilles van Gurp Jun 07 '12 at 13:01

How can I prevent command line java processes from stealing focus in OSX?

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