This post aims to provide information on how to easily install and maintain multiple java versions on macOS High Sierra.

Install Homebrew Cask

On Mac, Homebrew is the de-facto package manager, and Homebrew Cask is the app manager. I’m going to use Cask to install Java 7 and 8.

Install Homebrew Cask first if you haven’t:

brew update
brew tap caskroom/cask
brew install brew-cask-completion

If your brew or cask is outdated, update and upgrade:

brew update && brew upgrade brew-cask-completion && brew cleanup && brew cask cleanup

Check if we already have JDK 6, 7, 8, 9 installed by Homebrew Cask:

brew tap caskroom/versions
brew cask info java6
brew cask info java7
brew cask info java8

To check JDK 9 (latest)

brew cask info java

Install Java 6, 7, 8, 9 (latest):

brew tap caskroom/versions
brew cask install java6
brew cask install java7
brew cask install java8

To install JDK 9 (latest)

brew cask install java

Check if we already have JDK 6, 7, 8, 9 installed by Homebrew Cask:

brew tap caskroom/versions
brew cask info java6
brew cask info java7
brew cask info java8

To check JDK 9 (latest)

brew cask info java

Enter jEnv

Now it is time to install jEnv:

brew install jenv

Add the following lines to ~/.bash_profile This will initialize jEnv.

Init jenv

if which jenv > /dev/null; then eval "$(jenv init -)"; fi

jEnv doesn’t install JDKs, so we have to tell jEnv where to look for them. Type these commands to register JDKs in jEnv (replace the minor and patch versions with yours):

jenv add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_79.jdk/Contents/Home/
jenv add /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_66.jdk/Contents/Home/

After that, run this command to list all registered JDKs:

jenv versions