How To Install Java on Linux Mint 20

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Java on Linux Mint 20. For those of you who didn’t know, Java is a very popular language when it comes to programming. It is a common language for android development and other enterprise solutions. It was first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. Many programs and scripts require Java to run it, but usually, Java is not installed by default on a VPS or Dedicated Server.

There are two main implementations of Java.

• Oracle Java – This requires a commercial license as it targets enterprise customers who value stability and Long term support.
• OpenJDK – This is a free and open-source implementation of the Java Platform, Standard Edition.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of Java on a Linux Mint 20 (Ulyana).

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Linux Mint 20 (Ulyana).
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install Java on Linux Mint 20 Ulyana

Step 1. Before running the tutorial below, it’s important to make sure your system is up to date by running the following apt commands in the terminal:

sudo apt update

Step 2. Installing  Java on Linux Mint 20.

Run the following command to install OpenJDK on the Linux Mint system:

sudo apt install default-jdk

You can as well select a specific version bypassing the version number to the package name:

sudo apt install openjdk-14-jdk

After successfully installing  JDK, we can check if Java was correctly installed by using the command:

$ java -version

openjdk 11.0.7 2021-01-14
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.7+10-post-Ubuntu-6ubuntu1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.7+10-post-Ubuntu-6ubuntu1, mixed mode, sharing)

Step 3. Selecting default Java Version on Linux Mint 20.

You can also change the default Java version and update alternatives on your system by entering the following command:

sudo update-alternatives --config java

In my example I’m switching to Java 11:

$ sudo update-alternatives --config java
[sudo] password for idroot.us:         
There are 3 choices for the alternative java (providing /usr/bin/java).

  Selection    Path                                         Priority   Status
------------------------------------------------------------
* 0            /usr/lib/jvm/java-14-openjdk-amd64/bin/java   1411      auto mode
  1            /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java   1111      manual mode
  2            /usr/lib/jvm/java-13-openjdk-amd64/bin/java   1311      manual mode
  3            /usr/lib/jvm/java-14-openjdk-amd64/bin/java   1411      manual mode

Press <enter> to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number: 1
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java to provide /usr/bin/java (java) in manual mode

Confirm the new default Java version:

java --version

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Java. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the latest version of Java on the Linux Mint system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Java website.