How To Install Java on Linux Mint 21

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Java on Linux Mint 21. For those of you who didn’t know, Java is the most popular programming language, and many applications require Java JRE (Java Runtime Environments) to execute programs. Java can be used on different platforms such as Linux, macOS, Windows, Raspberry Pi, and many others.

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 the step-by-step installation of Java programming languages on Linux Mint 21 (Vanessa).

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Linux Mint 21 (Vanessa).
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• 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 21 Vanessa

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
sudo apt install software-properties-common apt-transport-https wget ca-certificates gnupg2

Step 2. Installing Java on Linux Mint 21.

By default, Java is not available on the Linux Mint 21 base repository. Now run the following command to install Java to your system using the following command:

sudo apt install default-jdk

Check the currently installed version by simply running the command below:

java --version

Output:

openjdk 18.0.1.1 2022-08-17
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.14.1+1-Ubuntu-0ubuntu1.20.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.14.1+1-Ubuntu-0ubuntu1.20.04, mixed mode, sharing)

Some applications also require Java Runtime Environment to execute code. To install the default Java JRE packages, issue the following command:

sudo apt install default-jre

Step 3. Configure Java on the System.

If you have several versions of Java installed on the system, then we need to tell the system which is the default version:

sudo update-alternatives --config java

You will be shown a screen where you will see the different versions of Java:

$ 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   1311      auto mode
  1            /usr/lib/jvm/java-18-openjdk-amd64/bin/java   1161      manual mode
  2            /usr/lib/jvm/java-13-openjdk-amd64/bin/java   1411      manual mode
  3            /usr/lib/jvm/java-14-openjdk-amd64/bin/java   1311      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 programming languages on the Linux Mint system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Java website.