Tutorial

How To Install Java with Apt on Ubuntu 18.04

Updated on October 12, 2021

Koen Vlaswinkel and Brian Hogan

English

Not using Ubuntu 18.04?Choose a different version or distribution.

Ubuntu 18.04

The author selected the Open Internet/Free Speech Fund to receive a $100 donation as part of the Write for DOnations program.

Introduction

Java and the JVM (Java’s virtual machine) are required for many kinds of software, including Tomcat, Jetty, Glassfish, Cassandra and Jenkins.

In this guide, you will install various versions of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and the Java Developer Kit (JDK) using apt. You’ll install OpenJDK as well as the official JDK from Oracle. You’ll then select the version you wish to use for your projects. When you’re finished, you’ll be able to use the JDK to develop software or use the Java Runtime to run software.

Prerequisites

To follow this tutorial, you will need:

One Ubuntu 18.04 server set up by following the the Ubuntu 18.04 initial server setup guide tutorial, including a sudo non-root user and a firewall.

Installing the Default JRE/JDK

The easiest option for installing Java is to use the version packaged with Ubuntu. By default, Ubuntu 18.04 includes Open JDK 11, which is an open-source variant of the JRE and JDK.

To install this version, first update the package index:

sudo apt update

Next, check if Java is already installed:

java -version

If Java is not currently installed, you’ll see the following output:

OutputCommand 'java' not found, but can be installed with:

sudo apt install default-jre
sudo apt install openjdk-11-jre-headless
sudo apt install openjdk-8-jre-headless

Execute the following command to install the default Java Runtime Environment (JRE), which will install the JRE from OpenJDK 11:

sudo apt install default-jre

The JRE will allow you to run almost all Java software.

Verify the installation with:

java -version

You’ll see output similar to the following:

Outputopenjdk version "11.0.11" 2021-04-20
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.11+9-Ubuntu-0ubuntu2.18.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.11+9-Ubuntu-0ubuntu2.18.04, mixed mode, sharing))

You may need the Java Development Kit (JDK) in addition to the JRE in order to compile and run some specific Java-based software. To install the JDK, execute the following command, which will also install the JRE:

sudo apt install default-jdk

Verify that the JDK is installed by checking the version of javac, the Java compiler:

javac -version

You’ll see the following output:

Output
javac 11.0.11

Next, let’s look at how to install Oracle’s official JDK and JRE.

Installing Oracle JDK 11

Oracle’s licensing agreement for Java doesn’t allow automatic installation through package managers. To install the Oracle JDK, which is the official version distributed by Oracle, you must create an Oracle account and manually download the JDK to add a new package repository for the version you’d like to use. Then you can use apt to install it with help from a third party installation script.

The version of Oracle’s JDK you’ll need to download must match version of the installer script. To find out which version you need, visit the oracle-java11-installer page.

Locate the package for Bionic, as shown in the following figure:

Installer package for Ubuntu 18.04

In this image, the version of the script is 11.0.7. In this case, you’ll need Oracle JDK 11.0.7. You don’t need to download anything from this page; you’ll download the installation script through apt shortly.

Then visit the Downloads page and locate the version that matches the one you need.

Oracle Java 11

Click the JDK Download button and you’ll be taken to a screen that shows the versions available. Click the .tar.gz package for Linux.

Linux download

You’ll be presented with a screen asking you to accept the Oracle license agreement. Select the checkbox to accept the license agreement and press the Download button. Your download will begin. You may need to log in to your Oracle account one more time before the download starts.

Once the file has downloaded, you’ll need to transfer it to your server. On your local machine, upload the file to your server. On macOS, Linux, or Windows using the Windows Subsystem for Linux, use the scp command to transfer the file to the home directory of your sammy user. The following command assumes you’ve saved the Oracle JDK file to your local machine’s Downloads folder:

scp Downloads/jdk-11.0.7_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz sammy@your_server_ip:~

Once the file upload has completed, return to your server and add the third-party repository that will help you install Oracle’s Java.

Install the software-properties-common package, which adds the add-apt-repository command to your system:

sudo apt install software-properties-common

Next, import the signing key used to verify the software you’re about to install:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys EA8CACC073C3DB2A

You’ll see this output:

Outputgpg: key EA8CACC073C3DB2A: public key "Launchpad PPA for Linux Uprising" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1

Then use the add-apt-repository command to add the repo to your list of package sources:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linuxuprising/java

You’ll see this message:

Output Oracle Java 11 (LTS) and 12 installer for Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Debian.

Java binaries are not hosted in this PPA due to licensing. The packages in this PPA download and install Oracle Java 11, so a working Internet connection is required.

The packages in this PPA are based on the WebUpd8 Oracle Java PPA packages: https://launchpad.net/~webupd8team/+archive/ubuntu/java

Created for users of https://www.linuxuprising.com/

Installation instructions (with some tips), feedback, suggestions, bug reports etc.:

. . .

Press [ENTER] to continue or ctrl-c to cancel adding it

Press ENTER to continue the installation. You may see a message about no valid OpenPGP data found, but you can safely ignore this.

Update your package list to make the new software available for installation:

sudo apt update

The installer will look for the Oracle JDK you downloaded in /var/cache/oracle-jdk11-installer-local. Create this directory and move the Oracle JDK archive there:

sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/oracle-jdk11-installer-local/
sudo cp jdk-11.0.7_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz /var/cache/oracle-jdk11-installer-local/

Finally, install the package:

sudo apt install oracle-java11-installer-local

The installer will first ask you to accept the Oracle license agreement. Accept the agreement, then the installer will extract the Java package and install it.

Now let’s look at how to select which version of Java you want to use.

Managing Java

You can have multiple Java installations on one server. You can configure which version is the default for use on the command line by using the update-alternatives command.

sudo update-alternatives --config java

This is what the output would look like if you’ve installed both versions of Java in this tutorial:

OutputThere are 2 choices for the alternative java (providing /usr/bin/java).

  Selection    Path                                         Priority   Status
------------------------------------------------------------
  0            /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java   1111      auto mode
  1            /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java   1111      manual mode
* 2            /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-oracle/bin/java          1091      manual mode

Press <enter> to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number:

Choose the number associated with the Java version to use it as the default, or press ENTER to leave the current settings in place.

You can do this for other Java commands, such as the compiler (javac):

sudo update-alternatives --config javac

Other commands for which this command can be run include, but are not limited to: keytool, javadoc and jarsigner.

Setting the `JAVA_HOME` Environment Variable

Many programs written using Java use the JAVA_HOME environment variable to determine the Java installation location.

To set this environment variable, first determine where Java is installed. Use the update-alternatives command:

sudo update-alternatives --config java

This command shows each installation of Java along with its installation path:

OutputThere are 2 choices for the alternative java (providing /usr/bin/java).

  Selection    Path                                         Priority   Status
------------------------------------------------------------
  0            /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java   1111      auto mode
  1            /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java   1111      manual mode
* 2            /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-oracle/bin/java          1091      manual mode

Press <enter> to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number:

In this case the installation paths are as follows:

OpenJDK 11 is located at /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java.
Oracle Java is located at /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-oracle/jre/bin/java.

Copy the path from your preferred installation. Then open /etc/environment using nano or your favorite text editor:

sudo nano /etc/environment

At the end of this file, add the following line, making sure to replace the highlighted path with your own copied path, but do not include the bin/ portion of the path:

/etc/environment

JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64"

Modifying this file will set the JAVA_HOME path for all users on your system.

Save the file and exit the editor.

Now reload this file to apply the changes to your current session:

source /etc/environment

Verify that the environment variable is set:

echo $JAVA_HOME

You’ll see the path you just set:

Output
/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64

Other users will need to execute the command source /etc/environment or log out and log back in to apply this setting.

Conclusion

In this tutorial you installed multiple versions of Java and learned how to manage them. You can now install software which runs on Java, such as Tomcat, Jetty, Glassfish, Cassandra or Jenkins.

Get Ubuntu on a hosted virtual machine in seconds with DigitalOcean Droplets. Simple enough for any user, powerful enough for fast-growing applications or businesses.

Learn more here

About the author(s)

Koen Vlaswinkel

See author profile

Category:

Tutorial

Tags:

Java

Ubuntu 18.04

DigitalOcean Droplets

Still looking for an answer?

Ask a question Search for more help

Was this helpful?

35 Comments

This textbox defaults to using Markdown to format your answer.

You can type !ref in this text area to quickly search our full set of tutorials, documentation & marketplace offerings and insert the link!

peshomorad • May 15, 2018

Thanks Koen,

But the $JAVA_HOME should be /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/ So in case of using Oracle Java 8 it would be

JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/

andriirubtsov • December 14, 2019

Exactly! “bin” should be removed. Smth like: export JAVA_HOME=“/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/”

ozkanemre • May 27, 2018

its a good and very useful thank you!

pravayest • June 2, 2018

Thanks. Very useful article

JavierC • August 31, 2018

Thanks! It is very useful.

rogerdeku • September 21, 2018

it works thank you

sfarmer88 • October 16, 2018

This happened. Not sure how to proceed.

–2018-10-16 15:01:26-- http://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/8u181-b13/96a7b8442fe848ef90c96a2fad6ed6d1/jdk-8u181-linux-x64.tar.gz?AuthParam=1539716606_e0a913d67b440504da28a61c62775de6 Connecting to download.oracle.com (download.oracle.com)|23.36.32.122|:80… connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 404 Not Found 2018-10-16 15:01:26 ERROR 404: Not Found.

download failed Oracle JDK 8 is NOT installed. dpkg: error processing package oracle-java8-installer (–configure): installed oracle-java8-installer package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1 E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Cheers, Steve

zozo36769 • October 27, 2018

thanks

Adis Bajric • January 24, 2019

I have downloaded, extracted and set path variable for Zulu Java platform, but when i run $sudo update-alternatives --config java there is no Zulu version. Do you know what could i have done wrong?

PATH=“/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/usr/lib/jvm/zulu8zulu8.28.0.1-jdk8.0.163-linux_x64/bin” JAVA_HOME=“/usr/lib/jvm/zulu8.28.0.1-jdk8.0.163-linux_x64”

There are 2 choices for the alternative java (providing /usr/bin/java).

Selection Path Priority Status

0 /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java 1101 auto mode 1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java 1101 manual mode

2 /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java 1081 manual mode

SixOThree • January 24, 2019

This article fails to mention a default install of Ubuntu 18.04 will not source /etc/environment by default.

You need to add the following line to .bashrc source /etc/environment

Please add to the guide.

Adis Bajric • January 25, 2019

I have added source /etc/environment at the start of bash.bashrc file but again cant recognize Zulu. Thanks.

Kylian Fornadout • February 15, 2019

Thanks, that’s pretty helpful

teward001 • April 29, 2019

The WebUpd8 PPA for Oracle Java in this tutorial is no longer supported since Oracle changed licensing and requires a login for downloads.

To that end, that PPA now 404s if anyone adds it. This tutorial is thus EXTREMELY out of date and needs updated with manual installation mechanisms for Oracle Java.

ankushsihag012 • June 19, 2019

awesome post

2936837958 • July 8, 2019

Thanks! It helps me a lot!

sshniro • July 15, 2019

Oracle has discontinued the ppa. So getting the following issue:

This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'oracle-java8-installer' has no installation candidate

koustav • July 17, 2019

Thanks,save my valuable time.

newskooler • July 17, 2019

Please update this tutorial. The installation of oracle-java8-installer is super outdated and not working.

Rakesh Mali • July 22, 2019

Not working getting error

sudo apt install oracle-java8-installer
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package oracle-java8-installer is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'oracle-java8-installer' has no installation candidate

Any other way to install java on ubuntu 18.04. I just want to intall elasticsearch

odahcam • July 25, 2019

I’m not able to install Oracle’s official JDK dist.

Dmytro H. • October 16, 2019

Tutorial needs to be updated) Oracle changed PPA)

Thomas vanderBaker • November 17, 2019

This PPA is outdated. If you’re trying to install Elasticsearch and run into the E: Package 'oracle-java8-installer' has no installation candidate message. The following will help you:

# Remove old ppa, hit ENTER to confirm
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:webupd8team/java

# Install valid ppa and install Java 8
sudo apt install apt-transport-https && sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y openjdk-8-jdk

# Version check
java -version

The output should be something like:

openjdk version "1.8.0_222"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_222-8u222-b10-1ubuntu1~18.04.1-b10)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.222-b10, mixed mode)

Cheers!

zachgoll • February 25, 2020

Thanks for this comment! This tutorial definitely is due for an update.

teward001 • April 29, 2019

The WebUpd8 PPA for Oracle Java in this tutorial is no longer supported since Oracle changed licensing and requires a login for downloads.

To that end, that PPA now 404s if anyone adds it. This tutorial is thus EXTREMELY out of date and needs updated with manual installation mechanisms for Oracle Java.

ankushsihag012 • June 19, 2019

awesome post

2936837958 • July 8, 2019

Thanks! It helps me a lot!

sshniro • July 15, 2019

Oracle has discontinued the ppa. So getting the following issue:

This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'oracle-java8-installer' has no installation candidate

koustav • July 17, 2019

Thanks,save my valuable time.

newskooler • July 17, 2019

Please update this tutorial. The installation of oracle-java8-installer is super outdated and not working.

Rakesh Mali • July 22, 2019

Not working getting error

sudo apt install oracle-java8-installer
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package oracle-java8-installer is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'oracle-java8-installer' has no installation candidate

Any other way to install java on ubuntu 18.04. I just want to intall elasticsearch

odahcam • July 25, 2019

I’m not able to install Oracle’s official JDK dist.

Dmytro H. • October 16, 2019

Tutorial needs to be updated) Oracle changed PPA)

Thomas vanderBaker • November 17, 2019

This PPA is outdated. If you’re trying to install Elasticsearch and run into the E: Package 'oracle-java8-installer' has no installation candidate message. The following will help you:

# Remove old ppa, hit ENTER to confirm
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:webupd8team/java

# Install valid ppa and install Java 8
sudo apt install apt-transport-https && sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y openjdk-8-jdk

# Version check
java -version

The output should be something like:

openjdk version "1.8.0_222"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_222-8u222-b10-1ubuntu1~18.04.1-b10)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.222-b10, mixed mode)

Cheers!

zachgoll • February 25, 2020

Thanks for this comment! This tutorial definitely is due for an update.

Mister Lee • January 25, 2020

I have downloaded, extracted and set path variable for Zulu Java platform, but when i run $sudo update-alternatives –config java there is no Zulu version. Do you know what could i have done wrong?

puiuvlad • September 15, 2020

Oracle still supports JDK 8, and the latest version as of now is jdk-8u261-linux-x64.tar.gz. Does the installer support this package?

If yes, is it looking under /var/cache/oracle-jdk8-installer-local/ ?

And should I install oracle-java8-installer-local ?

I tried both and I am getting: E: Unable to locate package oracle-java8-installer-local E: Unable to locate package oracle-jdk8-installer-local

lumbinir • January 21, 2021

Getting below error :

locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory Before installing this package, please download the Oracle JDK 11 .tar.gz file with the same version as this package (version 11.0.4), and place it in /var/cache/oracle-jdk11-installer-local,

E.g.: sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/oracle-jdk11-installer-local sudo cp jdk-11.0.4_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz /var/cache/oracle-jdk11-installer-local/ sha256sum mismatch jdk-11.0.10_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz Oracle JDK 11 is NOT installed. dpkg: error processing package oracle-java11-installer-local (–configure): installed oracle-java11-installer-local package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: oracle-java11-installer-local E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Maphisto • July 10, 2021

Just kill me already!

camber • April 13, 2022

-I cant install Oracle JDK 11 or run Elasticsearch!

-The package for Bionic thats listed on the oracle-java-installer page is 11.0.13 but the only option available for download is jdk-11.0.14_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz.

-I ran this anyway: $sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/oracle-jdk11-installer-local/ $sudo cp jdk-11.0.14_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz /var/cache/oracle-jdk11-installer-local/ $sudo apt install oracle-java11-installer-local

-Output: Preparing to unpack …/oracle-java11-installer-local_11.0.13-1~linuxuprising0_amd64.deb … oracle-license-v1-2 license has already been accepted Unpacking oracle-java11-installer-local (11.0.13-1~linuxuprising0) over (11.0.13-1~linuxuprising0) … Setting up oracle-java11-installer-local (11.0.13-1~linuxuprising0) … Before installing this package, please download the Oracle JDK 11 .tar.gz file with the same version as this package (version 11.0.4), and place it in /var/cache/oracle-jdk11-installer-local,

E.g.: sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/oracle-jdk11-installer-local sudo cp jdk-11.0.4_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz /var/cache/oracle-jdk11-installer-local/ sha256sum mismatch jdk-11.0.13_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz Oracle JDK 11 is NOT installed. dpkg: error processing package oracle-java11-installer-local (–configure): installed oracle-java11-installer-local package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1 Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.9-2) … Processing triggers for mime-support (3.60ubuntu1) … Errors were encountered while processing: oracle-java11-installer-local E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

-I ran this next but it didnt help: $ sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/oracle-java11-installer-local.postinst -f $ sudo dpkg --configure -a Setting up oracle-java11-installer-local (11.0.13-1~linuxuprising0) …

-and this: $ sudo update-alternatives --config java There is only one alternative in link group java (providing /usr/bin/java): /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java Nothing to configure.

-I followed the rest of the tutorial.

-Elasticsearch will not start: $ systemctl status elasticsearch.service ● elasticsearch.service - Elasticsearch Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/elasticsearch.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2022-04-13 02:09:32 UTC; 38s ago Docs: https://www.elastic.co Process: 19504 ExecStart=/usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/systemd-entrypoint -p ${PID_DIR}/elasticsearch.pid --quiet (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Main PID: 19504 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Apr 13 02:09:32 endCiv systemd-entrypoint[19504]: error: Apr 13 02:09:32 endCiv systemd-entrypoint[19504]: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM warning: INFO: os::commit_memory(0x00000000e7600000, 413138944, 0) failed; error=‘Not enough space’ ( Apr 13 02:09:32 endCiv systemd-entrypoint[19504]: at org.elasticsearch.tools.launchers.JvmOption.flagsFinal(JvmOption.java:119) Apr 13 02:09:32 endCiv systemd-entrypoint[19504]: at org.elasticsearch.tools.launchers.JvmOption.findFinalOptions(JvmOption.java:81) Apr 13 02:09:32 endCiv systemd-entrypoint[19504]: at org.elasticsearch.tools.launchers.JvmErgonomics.choose(JvmErgonomics.java:38) Apr 13 02:09:32 endCiv systemd-entrypoint[19504]: at org.elasticsearch.tools.launchers.JvmOptionsParser.jvmOptions(JvmOptionsParser.java:135) Apr 13 02:09:32 endCiv systemd-entrypoint[19504]: at org.elasticsearch.tools.launchers.JvmOptionsParser.main(JvmOptionsParser.java:86) Apr 13 02:09:32 endCiv systemd[1]: elasticsearch.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE Apr 13 02:09:32 endCiv systemd[1]: elasticsearch.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’. Apr 13 02:09:32 endCiv systemd[1]: Failed to start Elasticsearch.