IntelliJ not starting after OS X Yosemite update

Question

I upgraded my OS X to Yosemite and now my IntelliJ IDE is not starting.

Here is the error message:

To open “IntelliJ IDEA” you need to install the legacy Java SE 6 runtime.

Anthodium

Answer 1

The officially recommended solution is to install/update JDK 1.6 on Mac (if this link doesn't open in Safari, try Firefox).

Modifying Info.plist will break the application digital signature and prevent the patch updates.

We do not recommend modifying Info.plist file to run under JDK 1.7 or 1.8.

Please check this document for the list of known critical issues specific to Java 7 and 8 on Mac that prevent JetBrains from using these Java versions by default.

While Java 6 has known security issues and is EOL, these issues are most likely not exploitable when you are using Java 6 to run IntelliJ IDEA (and other IDEs based on this platform). Java 6 doesn't install browser plugin to run applets and it would be extremely hard (if not impossible) for the remote attacker to exploit it when it's used to run the IDE.

If you can't accept these (probably minimal) risks of running under Java 6, we recommend using the special IDE distribution with bundled Java 8 (still experimental). To obtain this version add -jdk-bundled to the file name. Since IDEA 14.1 the suffix has changed to -custom-jdk-bundled

Example:

• http://download.jetbrains.com/idea/ideaIU-14.0.1.dmg (version that requires Java 6)
• http://download.jetbrains.com/idea/ideaIU-14.0.1-jdk-bundled.dmg (version with bundled Java 8)

Please note, it's just an example and may link to an outdated version, please use the latest available version from the the downloads page, click Download, cancel the download, copy the direct link from the Thank you for downloading IntelliJ IDEA page and add -jdk-bundled (-custom-jdk-bundled since 14.1) to the file name. Use this version only if running under Java 6 is absolutely not an option for you, be aware of the known issues.

Empennage

During update IntelliJ warned about modified Info.plist, but after pressing 'Ignore' it proceed normally, so no big deal. – Weak

@ctapobep depending on the system security settings violating the application digital signature may block its networking functions or restrict access to the system keychain (no more stored passwords for version control, etc). – Empennage

What will happen to my system java version(now 1.7.55) after install this apple java 6? – Ethicize

@Ethicize - my JDK 1.7 was left alone. i.e. It's still my default JDK – Andrej

IntelliJ Community Edition v14.0.1 with bundled JDK link: download.jetbrains.com/idea/ideaIC-14.0.1.dmg – Embryogeny

@Embryogeny 14 is downloaded, still the same issue. – Ethicize

Should note that using Java version 7 or higher may cause font rendering issues. – Reubenreuchlin

If you don't want a bundled JDK and want to fix the application digital signature issues (continually having to type passwords was too annoying for me) you can modifying Info.plist (as discussed below) and then resign the Intellij App. There's an easy to follow 20 step set of instructions at forums.macnn.com/79/developer-center/355720/… (don't worry, most of the steps are just press accept). Then just do "codesign -f -s (name of certificate) /Application/IntelliJ\ IDEA\ 14.app" – Shanon

known issues link requires login – Greenling

Answer 2

What you need to do is go ahead and edit this file:

/Applications/IntelliJ IDEA 13.app/Contents/Info.plist

Replacing this:

<key>JVMVersion</key>
<string>1.6*</string>

with this:

<key>JVMVersion</key>
<string>1.7*</string>

Edit: As said by intellij member @crazycoder, the recomended way to total fix this is to install the latest jdk 1.6

Anthodium

Of course you can also try to install java 6 or java 8. – Anthodium

Thanks! This worked for me too. I did not try to install java 6 or java 8. – Attested

Oracle's Java 1.7 and 1.8 JDKs have font rendering issues on Mac OS. If that doesn't bother you then you can just up the JVMVersion as mentioned here. However, if it bothers you then install Java 1.6 as mentioned in Leszek Gruchala's answer. – Pilpul

We do not recommend this approach. It will break the digital signature and you will not be able to update IDE via patch. The recommended solution is to install the latest JDK 1.6 version. – Empennage

Please check my answer. I'd appreciate if you could accept it so that users can find the recommended solution easier and be aware of the problems and issues they will face after switching to Java 7 or 8 on Mac. – Empennage

I would do CrazyCoder solution. I changed to 1.8 using this solution and it worked but I got some crazy behavior like idea using 52GB of memory and not being able to kill the process. Changed back to 1.6 (unfortunately) and its back to normal – Epigraph

Answer 3

I found that installing Java for OS X 2014-001 after upgrading to Yosemite has solved it for me.

Adoration

I hear that this worked for a bunch of people in our office, so I don't understand why you were downvoted (at some point). – Kosygin

This is also the solution for El Capitan. – Adoration

Answer 4

Or change asterisk to plus

<key>JVMVersion</key>
<string>1.6+</string>

The drawback is OS X will with each IDEA start ask you for network permission.

But Java 8 still have some bugs, especially on Retina devices and JetBrains still encourages to use Java 6 from Apple. Latest update working with IDEA on Yosemite is available here http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1572?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Syncope

Font rendering works as it should with the linked version of Java 6. I will stick with this setup until Java 8 will be improved in that direction (if it will be). – Research

Answer 5

If you have latest JDK, you could change info.plist to handle this.

edit Info.plist file, in your jdk, for example:

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Info.plist

update JVMCapabilities dictionary to have following values:

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

Now, try restarting the app. The application should now make use of the your JDK instead of looking for JDK 6

Spaceless

"Modifying Info.plist will break the application digital signature and prevent the patch updates. We do not recommend modifying Info.plist file to run under JDK 1.7 or 1.8.". Even if you're changing the file for Java, you should do that with care. – Trixi

I am not suggesting to modify IntelliJ's Info.plist. I am suggesting to change JDK's Info.plist. So intelliJ package content is untouched. – Spaceless

Tried this, even after complete restart: no effect. Is this documented? Should this work? – Lustrate

@JanGalinski jdk info plist that you are modifying should be the one that is used by intelliJ. For example, default jdk in your system might be 1.7 and you might be modifying jdk1.8. Can you validate ? – Spaceless

Answer 6

OSX has its JDKs in the folder /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/. There can be multiple versions there, for e.g. 1.7 or 1.8.

As indicated by @CrazyCoder, IntelliJ needs a 1.6 version to be present there, which Yosemite kicked out (in favor of a 1.7 if I'm not mistaken).

To install jdk 1.6, you can indeed simply use the dmg from apple as recommended by @CrazyCoder and confirmed by @LanceP.

As a homebrew cask user, I installed via

brew tap caskroom/versions
brew cask install java6

After this, IntelliJ was up and running again.

See also this useful post on managing multiple Java versions on OSX.

Flagelliform

Answer 7

Got the same problem with MacOS Catalina version 10.15.2 (19C57) after the PyCharm update.

Workaround: I rolled back to the Version 2019.2 - 2019.2.5.

Dyscrasia