How can I set my Cygwin PATH to find javac?

Question

I have a Windows 7 system on which I have installed the latest Java compiler. I also have the latest Cygwin. I want to use the Java compiler from Cygwin's shell. I edited the PATH variable in Cygwin as follows:

export PATH=$PATH:"/cygdrive/C/Program\ Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_23/bin/"

I can see the javac binary in the above directory, however when I try to compile my *.java file I get:

javac command not found

Am I doing something wrong in setting the PATH variable like this? Do I have to do something else? I am new to Java and not very familiar with cygwin.

Musaceous

Answer 1

as you write the it with double-quotes, you don't need to escape spaces with \

export PATH=$PATH:"/cygdrive/C/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_23/bin/"

of course this also works:

export PATH=$PATH:/cygdrive/C/Program\ Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_23/bin/

Disembroil

Is there some permanent place like windows environment variables where I can simply save the folder location, instead of creating the PATH variable ? Thanks ! – Owlet

you can add that command to the file ~/.bashrc then it will always load when you start cygwin. – Duet

Answer 2

Java binaries may be under "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86)": those white spaces will likely affect the behaviour.

In order to set up env variables correctly, I suggest gathering some info before starting:

• Open DOS shell (type cmd into 'RUN' box) go to C:\
• type "dir /x" and take note of DOS names (with ~) for "Program Files *" folders

Cygwin configuration:

go under C:\cygwin\home\, then open .bash_profile and add the following two lines (conveniently customized in order to match you actual JDK path)

export JAVA_HOME="/cygdrive/c/PROGRA~1/Java/jdk1.8.0_65"
export PATH="$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH"

Now from Cygwin launch

javac -version

to check if the configuration is successful.

Herriot

Answer 3

To bring more prominence to the useful comment by @johanvdw:

If you want to ensure your your javac file path is always know when cygwin starts, you may edit your .bash_profile file. In this example you would add export PATH=$PATH:"/cygdrive/C/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_23/bin/" somewhere in the file.

When Cygwin starts, it'll search directories in PATH and this one for executable files to run.

Southeast

Answer 4

If you are still finding that the default wrong Java version (1.7) is being used instead of your Java home directory, then all you need to do is simply change the order of your PATH variable to set JAVA_HOME\bin before your Windows directory in your PATH variable, save it and restart cygwin. Test it out to make sure everything will work fine. It should not have any adverse effect because you want your own Java version to override the default which comes with Windows. Good luck!

Eulogize

Answer 5

Although all other answers are technically correct, I would recommend you adding the custom path to the beginning of your PATH, not at the end. That way it would be the first place to look for instead of the last:

Add to bottom of ~/.bash_profile:

export PATH="/cygdrive/C/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_23/bin/":$PATH

That way if you have more than one java or javac it will use the one you provided first.

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