JAVA_HOME environment variable not set Validator.nu HTML Parser

Question

I am trying to install a local version of the Validator.nu server and it keeps failing on trying to build the HTML Parser.

It says it can't find the JAVA_HOME variable which I have set in my .bashrc file and shows correctly when I type "echo $JAVA_HOME" at the prompt

Ideas appreciated thanks

Error output

"hg" pull --update -R build https://bitbucket.org/validator/build/
Not trusting file build/.hg/hgrc from untrusted user dave, group dave
Not trusting file /home/dave/src/checker/build/.hg/hgrc from untrusted user dave, group dave
warning: bitbucket.org certificate with fingerprint 81:2b:08:90:dc:d3:71:ee:e0:7c:b4:75:ce:9b:6c:48:94:56:a1:fe not verified (check hostfingerprints or web.cacerts config setting)
pulling from https://bitbucket.org/validator/build/
warning: bitbucket.org certificate with fingerprint 81:2b:08:90:dc:d3:71:ee:e0:7c:b4:75:ce:9b:6c:48:94:56:a1:fe not verified (check hostfingerprints or web.cacerts config setting)
searching for changes
no changes found
Error: The JAVA_HOME environment variable is not set.
Set the JAVA_HOME environment variable to the pathname of the directory where your JDK is installed.

Do you have the exact error output? Just as a quick test, it may be worth pointing the variable to a Sun / Oracle JDK. — Michael, Jul 22 '11 at 13:26
i've added the output from the terminal - do you know how I would add the Oracle JDK? — Dave Taylor, Jul 22 '11 at 13:36
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3747789/how-to-install-the-sun-java-jdk-on-ubuntu-10-10-maverick-meerkat — Michael, Jul 22 '11 at 14:13
thanks @Mikaveli, I have tried the scripts and the software centre and I already have the latest versions — Dave Taylor, Jul 22 '11 at 14:43
Your env var points to the _Open_ JDK. It's possible that there is something that your software is looking for isn't present / is different. If you've installed the Sun / Oracle version, point `JAVA_HOME` to that as a quick test. — Michael, Jul 22 '11 at 14:54
Are you using sudo to run the install script? What happens if you run "sudo echo $JAVA_HOME"? — Ethan Shepherd, Jul 22 '11 at 15:01
I have tried pointing $JAVA_HOME at /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun and /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/bin with no joy — Dave Taylor, Jul 22 '11 at 15:13
sudo echo $JAVA_HOME seems to be the same as echo $JAVA_HOME — Dave Taylor, Jul 22 '11 at 15:15
here's the last terminal output: https://gist.github.com/1099658 — Dave Taylor, Jul 22 '11 at 15:18
looks like you have /bin on the end, which shouldn't be there. Your $JAVA_HOME should be /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun — Ethan Shepherd, Jul 22 '11 at 15:29
I had tried that already but to show it's output here's the result of $JAVA_HOME being /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun https://gist.github.com/1099658#file_output2 thanks so much for taking a look — Dave Taylor, Jul 22 '11 at 15:40

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 27 '11 at 16:28

3

Instead of:

$ sudo python build/build.py all

try:

$ sudo -E python build/build.py all

The sudo command for security reasons resets the environment (so your JAVA_HOME for the python process is wiped out even when it's exported). The "sudo -E" will preserve the environment.

answered Jul 27 '11 at 16:28

Michał Šrajer

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ah...that would make sense. learn something new every day! cheers – Dave Taylor Jul 28 '11 at 09:51

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 26 '11 at 19:22

I assume (from tag) you use ubuntu.

list versions of installed javas in your system:

dave@ubuntu:~$ update-java-alternatives --list
java-6-openjdk 1061 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk

Note, that if you set JAVA_HOME in ~/.bashrc it will be set only in your terminal sessions. Unless you export it, it will be set only for your current shell process (not subprocesses like mercurial).

add line to your .bashrc:

export JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk"

open a new terminal and test it:

$JAVA_HOME/bin/java -version && echo java seen by bash
bash -c '$JAVA_HOME/bin/java -version && echo java seen by bash subprocesses'

If you want to set environment for all processes (not only started by hand from terminal), you can:

dave@ubuntu:~$ sudo $EDITOR /etc/environment

thanks for this information Michal, I am learning a lot about the inner workings of the ubuntu/linux system because of this, I actually managed to get the validator.nu server running today. Unfortunately I'm still not sure why it wasn't working before. I'm going to add the steps I took as an answer. — Dave Taylor, Jul 26 '11 at 20:22

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 26 '11 at 20:34

After tackling this for the last 4 days I have managed to get the validator.nu server running on my local Ubuntu VM and so I thought I would update this thread in case anyone else runs in to the same issues.

I am still not 100% sure where the original issue with the JAVA_HOME variable was coming from but I suspect (although I am not an expert at this) that it had something to do with the way I was using sudo to run the python build.

I was initially following the instructions on http://about.validator.nu/#src but using

$ sudo python build/build.py all

This was because part of the build needed the correct permissions to work.

This is my step-by-step process which starts from a clean install of Ubuntu 11.

installed ubuntu 11
opened the terminal
sudo /bin/bash <----------- I THINK THIS IS THE CRUCIAL LINE
apt-get install mercurial
apt-get install subversion
apt-get install openjdk-6-jre
apt-get install openjdk-6-jdk
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk
follow rest of http://about.validator.nu/#src instructions

I'm going to need to do it again when I set this up for the internal network for our build scripts so i'll edit this if I've missed out on anything.

Hope this saves another person's headache and lost days!

JAVA_HOME environment variable not set Validator.nu HTML Parser

Error output

3 Answers3