How To Install Java On Rocky Linux 8 / CentOS 8 / RHEL 8
The Java JDK (Java Development Kit) is a software development environment used for developing Java Applications. The JDK is a collection of programming tools, notably JRE (Java Runtime Environment), Java (Loader for Java Application), Javac (Compiler), Jar (Archiver), etc.
JDK or JRE
Application developers who are new to Java often confuse the Java Development Kit with the Java Runtime Environment. The JDK is a package of tools for developing Java applications, whereas the JRE is a package of tools for running Java applications.
OpenJDK or Oracle Java
OpenJDK is an open-source implementation of the Oracle Java SE platform edition. Oracle develops Oracle Java SE, whereas the OpenJDK is developed by Oracle Corporation, OpenJDK and Java Community, Red Hat, Azul Systems, IBM, Apple Inc, and SAP SE.
There is no technical difference between OpenJDK and Oracle JDK.
Install Java on Rocky Linux 8 / CentOS 8 / RHEL 8
Install OpenJDK or Oracle Java as per your requirement.
Install OpenJDK
Installing OpenJDK is a pretty straightforward process in Rocky Linux 8 / CentOS 8 / RHEL 8.
You can use the yum command to install OpenJDK.
Install OpenJDK JDK
### Java JDK 8 ### dnf install -y java-1.8.0-openjdk-devel ### Java JDK 11 ### dnf install -y java-11-openjdk-devel
Install OpenJDK JRE
### Java JRE 8 ### yum install -y java-1.8.0-openjdk ### Java JRE 11 ### yum install -y java-11-openjdk
Install Oracle Java
There is no separate JRE (Java Runtime Environment) anymore. Instead, Oracle JDK now provides JRE as well.
Download Oracle Java JDK
You can either use the command line or browser to download the JDK.
Go to the Oracle JDK page to download packages using the browser. Then, download the rpm binary package for easy installation.
Oracle Java JDK 16:
Download Oracle Java 16 (v16.0.1)
Oracle Java JDK 11 (LTS):
Download Oracle Java 11 (v11.0.11) (Login Required)
Oracle Java JDK 8:
Download Oracle Java 8 (v8u291) (Login Required)
If you still want to download through the command line, install the wget package.
dnf install -y wget
Then, use the below command to download Oracle Java using the terminal.
### Oracle Java JDK 12 ### wget --no-check-certificate --no-cookies --header "Cookie: oraclelicense=accept-securebackup-cookie" https://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/16.0.1+9/7147401fd7354114ac51ef3e1328291f/jdk-16.0.1_linux-x64_bin.rpm ### Oracle Java JDK 11 ### LOGIN REQUIRED ### Oracle Java JDK 8 ### LOGIN REQUIRED
Install Oracle Java JDK
Install Oracle Java JDK using the rpm command.
### Oracle Java JDK 12 ### rpm -ivh jdk-16.0.1_linux-x64_bin.rpm ### Oracle Java JDK 11 (LTS) ### rpm -ivh jdk-11.0.11_linux-x64_bin.rpm ### Oracle Java JDK 8 ### rpm -ivh jdk-8u291-linux-x64.rpm
Set Default Java Version
Use the alternatives command to set the default java version.
alternatives --config java
Select Java:
If your system has multiple Java versions, the above command will list all Java versions like below.
There are 3 programs which provide 'java'.
Selection Command
-----------------------------------------------
1 java-11-openjdk.x86_64 (/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-11.0.11.0.9-2.el8_4.x86_64/bin/java)
2 java-1.8.0-openjdk.x86_64 (/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.292.b10-1.el8_4.x86_64/jre/bin/java)
*+ 3 /usr/java/jdk-16.0.1/bin/java
Enter to keep the current selection[+], or type selection number: 1
Enter the number below the selection column to set the default Java version.
Here, I chose 1 for OpenJDK 11.
Verify Java Version
Check the java version using the following command.
java -version
Output:
openjdk version "11.0.11" 2021-04-20 LTS OpenJDK Runtime Environment 18.9 (build 11.0.11+9-LTS) OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 18.9 (build 11.0.11+9-LTS, mixed mode, sharing)
The output may vary depending upon the package and the version you chose to be the default Java version.
Setup Environmental Variables
The most important part has come now. Java applications often require JAVA environment variables to be set in the system.
Create a new file under /etc/profile.d directory.
vi /etc/profile.d/java.sh
Set variables based on the Java location and version.
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-11.0.11.0.9-2.el8_4.x86_64/bin/ export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-11.0.11.0.9-2.el8_4.x86_64/ export J2SDKDIR=/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-11.0.11.0.9-2.el8_4.x86_64/
Load the environments into the current session.
source /etc/profile.d/java.sh
Conclusion
I hope, this post helped you install Java on your EL 8 system. Java must run applications such as Tomcat, Gradle, ELK Stack, Graylog, Eclipse IDE, Hadoop, etc.