Unable to locate an executable at "/usr/bin/java/bin/java" (-1)

Question

I am having a pathetic issue with Java in my mac osx 10.7.3 . Previously I installed it and it was working fine. After some changes in the .bash_profile and .profile file in the course of time, I am having an error like

Unable to locate an executable at "/usr/bin/java/bin/java"

whenever I try to run "javac" or "java" in my terminal .

echo $PATH gives an output like :

/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/Users/sabya/Documents/Play_Framework/play-2.0:/usr/X11/bin:/usr/local/git/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin

My .bash_profile looks like :

alias start_mysql="/Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM/MySQLCOM start"
alias stop_mysql="/Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM/MySQLCOM stop"
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/bin/java

Output of which java

/usr/bin/java

Its bugging me for long days and uninstalling and installing java did not help my luck .

I am a newbie in Mac and need help to sort out this issue .

Googled and saw SOF before posting this question but did not find anything specific to my problem .

Thanks

Sabya

score 111 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 03 '12 at 19:54

111

Most certainly, export JAVA_HOME=/usr/bin/java is the culprit. This env var should point to the JDK or JRE installation directory. Googling shows that the best option for MacOS X seems to be export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/Home.

answered Jun 03 '12 at 19:54

Alexander Pavlov

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export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/Home in .bash_profile worked perfectly .Thanks for the help . :-) – Sabya Jun 03 '12 at 19:59
55

Mine was installed to `/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_31.jdk/Contents/Home`. – Nick Merrill Feb 24 '15 at 18:11
3

This worked perfectly for me as well, though I don't understand it. If you as for "which java" the console returns /usr/bin/java, then why do we have to set a different path? – Loebre Nov 02 '15 at 09:41
@Loebre: See the answer from Anony-Mousse – Alexander Pavlov Nov 20 '15 at 23:00
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2019 Update for JDK 11: `export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-11.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home` – Agile Bean Jul 28 '19 at 10:08
@AlexanderPavlov Could you please elaborate on why this worked? – Saisumanth Gopisetty Sep 03 '19 at 18:38
Sorry, not after 7+ years :) – Alexander Pavlov Sep 04 '19 at 20:34

Ankur Agarwal · Answer 2 · 2018-11-10T03:38:17.343

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home

Because:

 $ find /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home -name java*
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javadoc
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javafxpackager
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javah
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javap
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javapackager
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/javafx-src.zip
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/bin/java

score 12 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 03 '12 at 20:01

JAVA_HOME is not the name of the java executable. But of the directory, java was installed in. The executable should be $JAVA_HOME/bin/java.

The which command is not helpful for you there. It will not give you the java home, but most likely this is just a wrapper or symlink to java installed in a very different directory.

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

i have experienced the same problem, and after reading this post i have double checked the JAVA_HOME definition in .bash_profile. It is actually:

export JAVA_HOME=$(which java)

that, exactly as Anony-Mousse is explaining, is the executable. Changing it to:

export=/Library/Java/Home

fixes the problem, tho is still interesting to understand why it's valued in that way in the profile file.

score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 24 '19 at 20:16

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I faced the same problem. Updating bash_profile with the following lines, solved the problem for me:

export JAVA_HOME='/usr/'

export PATH=${JAVA_HOME}/bin:$PATH

edited Oct 24 '19 at 20:16

Dharman

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answered Oct 24 '19 at 18:52

iamtester

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I had the same problem, I followed your solution, but terminal didn't save my settings. How should I save the settings on bash profile? – Shreya Agarwal Jun 28 '20 at 19:14

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 22 '20 at 00:24

1

In MacOS Catalina, run

sudo nano ~/.bash_profile

In bash_profile, add:

export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)
source ~/.bash_profile

Verify by running java --version

answered Mar 22 '20 at 00:24

Cri_Nox

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 27 '20 at 05:32

For me, the problem occurs when I've downloaded macOS Compressed Archive which underlying directory contains

jdk-11.0.8.jdk
- Contents
  - Home
    - bin
    - ...
  - MacOS
  - _CodeSignature

So, to solve the problem, JAVA_HOME should be pointed directly to /Path-to-JDK/Contents/Home.

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Nov 09 '20 at 07:47

1

For those using newer versions of java: jhat has been removed since Java 9. Source: https://www.infoq.com/news/2015/12/OpenJDK-9-removal-of-HPROF-jhat/

That same article recommends using Java VisualVM instead.

answered Nov 09 '20 at 07:47

asherbret

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Unable to locate an executable at "/usr/bin/java/bin/java" (-1)

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