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javamacosjavac

javac 8 on Mac OS doesn't compile and says it's 1.7

I have installed JDK 1.8.0_25 on Mac OS X. It complains when trying to compile Java 8 sources:

  > javac -source 1.8 ComposableList.java
  javac: invalid source release: 1.8

I am sure I am running the compiler from the Java 8 JDK:

  > which javac
  /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_25.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac
  > java -version
  java version "1.8.0_25"
  Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_25-b17)
  Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.25-b02, mixed mode)

However the javac says it's 1.7

  > javac -version
  javac 1.7.0_60

Could it be that Apple(Oracle?) bundled wrong version of the compiler with the JDK? Or is there something else I am doing wrong?

EDIT: The outcome is the same regardless of whether my $PATH contains any java directories or not (normally it doesn't):

> which java
/usr/bin/java
> which javac
/usr/bin/javac

EDIT 2: One strange thing I found was the reported version of the javac compiler is the same regardless of which compiler I run:

> /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_21.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac -version
javac 1.7.0_60
> /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_05.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac -version
javac 1.7.0_60
> /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_25.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac -version
javac 1.7.0_60

EDIT 3: as @dan suggested, could all javac being symlinks to a single one? Nope, it turned out there are not symlinks: 

>ls -l /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_25.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac
-rwxrwxr-x  1 root  wheel  99376 Sep 17 17:13         /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_25.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac
> ls -l /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_05.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac
-rwxrwxr-x  1 root  wheel  99360 Mar 18  2014 /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_05.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac
Solution

  • The solution was in this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/22547808/130228 . Turns out, javac executes ~/Library/Java/Extensions/tools.jar if it finds one. So delete ~/Library/Java/Extensions and you'll be fine.

    Thanks to https://stackoverflow.com/users/3439760/user3439760 for discovering the answer and to Franco Azabache for finding the link for me.