Eclipse Kepler for OS X Mavericks request Java SE 6

Question

I have just made a clean installation of OS X Mavericks, and I have downloaded Eclipse Kepler , but if I execute it, gives me this message:

Asking me to install Runtime Java SE 6; I have already installed Java 7, and if I press Install in that dialog, download and install it, and open Eclipse again, the dialog appears again.

How I can fix it?

Answer 1

This is in part due to Oracle's missing definitions of the JRE8 VM capabilities.

In case you don't want to install JRE6 at all and simply use JRE8 without symlinking it to the JRE6 either you can do the following:

Copy the Info.plist located at the path named below to e.g. ~/Downloads/:

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk.1.8.<…>/Contents/

and then replace

<key>JVMCapabilities</key>
 <array>
  <string>CommandLine</string>
 </array>

with the following:

<key>JVMCapabilities</key>
 <array>
  <string>JNI</string>
  <string>BundledApp</string>
  <string>CommandLine</string>
 </array>

Afterwards copy the file back to its original location (you need administrator rights). For this change to take effect you need to log out of your account (and back in) or restart your computer. The dialog for Java 6 should shouldn't appear anymore and Eclipse should launch just fine using JRE8 (or JRE7). The same holds true for any other application that initially asks for Java, e.g. Adobe's Creative Suite.

On a related note it appears that this plist change sticks even after updates done through the Java Preference Panel in the System Preferences.

If it still doesn't work. You might need to add some folders and a symlink (details):

sudo mkdir -p /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_*.jdk/Contents/Home/bundle/Libraries
sudo ln -s /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_*.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/lib/server/libjvm.dylib /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_*.jdk/Contents/Home/bundle/Libraries/
sudo mkdir -p /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk
sudo mkdir -p /System/Library/Java/Support/Deploy.bundle

Answer 2

To be able to run Eclipse with Java 7 (Oracle), I launch Eclipse using this file: eclipse/Eclipse.app/Contents/MacOS/eclipse. "eclipse" folder contains alias for this file by default. So all that you need to do is to double-click the alias named "eclipse".

Also Oracle warns that Oracle's Java version 7u25 and below have been disabled by Apple on OS X (see here). I had upgraded to the latest JDK version before I found out the way of launching Eclipse with Java 7. So I don't know if the upgrade is necessary or not.

Answer 3

I had this problem after a Mavericks install. I was able to solve it by installing Java from the Apple download at http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1572

I hope this helps.