This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest Oracle Java (JDK 21 or JDK 23) in Ubuntu Linux via the official binary package.

There used to be unofficial Ubuntu PPA to automate the process of installing Java JDK and setup the environment, however, discontinued. So, here’s the tutorial to manually install the Java package and set as default.

Install JDK 21/23 in Ubuntu:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window and follow the steps below one by one.

NOTE: In all commands below, you need to replace jdk-21 with jdk-23 for installing or uninstall Java JDK 23.

1. Download Java package

Firstly, go to oracle website and select download the .deb package for JDK 21 or 22 depends on which version you want to install:

It’s the 64-bit .deb package for modern Intel/AMD PC and laptops, or tarball for ARM cpu architecture type, e.g., Raspberry Pi.

2. Install the .deb package

Once you downloaded the package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run the command below to install the deb package:

sudo apt install ~/Downloads/jdk-21_linux-x64_bin.deb

For choice, you may drag’n’drop the .deb package into terminal, instead of typing ~/Downloads/filename.deb. And, replace number 21 according to which version you downloaded.

For the ARM package (for Raspberry Pi, Apple M1/2, etc), run command to create ‘/usr/lib/jvm’ directory in case it does not exist:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib/jvm

Then, extract the tarball to that directory via (For JDK 23, replace the number in command.):

sudo tar -zxf ~/Downloads/jdk-21_linux-aarch64_bin.tar.gz -C /usr/lib/jvm/

3. Set JDK 21/23 as default (for ARM only):

NOTE 1: The .deb package now automatically set Java 21/23 as default! So, you ONLY need to follow the steps below for the ARM package.

NOTE 2: The JDK root folder-name may vary depends on which package you installed. It may be ‘jdk-21’, ‘jdk-21.0.1’, ‘jdk-23’, ‘jdk-23.0.1’, and so forth. Run ls /usr/lib/jvm to tell and replace jdk-21 in commands below accordingly.

a.) Create symbolic links for the executable files:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/bin/java 1

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/javac javac /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/bin/javac 1

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/jar jar /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/bin/jar 1

Similarly, add links for other executable files (e.g., jarsigner, jlink, javadoc) as you need.

b.) Next, run the commands below one by one, and type number to select Java JDK 21 as default.

sudo update-alternatives --config java

sudo update-alternatives --config javac

sudo update-alternatives --config jar

When done, verify by running command in terminal:

java -version

javac -version

4. Set JAVA_HOME (for ARM only):

As well, you only need to do this for ARM package. If installed the .deb version, just verify JAVA HOME via the bottom command.

Also, replace ‘jdk-21’ below according to ls /usr/lib/jvm command output.

Option 1.) Set JAVA_HOME for current command console, that will work until you close it:

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21

setenv JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21

Option 2.) To make it permanent, create and edit config file via command:

sudo gedit /etc/profile.d/jdk.sh

Depends on your desktop environment, you may replace gedit with mousepad for XFCE, xed for Linux Mint, pluma for MATE, kate for KDE Plasma, gnome-text-editor for Ubuntu 24.04+.

then add following lines:

export J2SDKDIR=/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21
export J2REDIR=/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/db/bin
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21
export DERBY_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/db

And create anther one for C shell:

sudo gedit /etc/profile.d/jdk.csh

add following lines and save it:

setenv J2SDKDIR /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21
setenv J2REDIR /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21
setenv PATH ${PATH}:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/db/bin
setenv JAVA_HOME /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21
setenv DERBY_HOME /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/db

Finally, change the permissions via command, and it should take place next time you log in.

sudo chmod +x /etc/profile.d/jdk.csh /etc/profile.d/jdk.sh

To verify JAVA HOME, run the command below in terminal at next login:

java -XshowSettings:properties -version

Uninstall Java JDK 21/23

To uninstall the Java package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove jdk-21 jdk-23

In the commands below, replace jdk-21, with jdk-21.0.5, jdk-23, jdk-23.0.1, etc, depends on which version you installed.

For the ARM version, simply remove all the installed files, by running the commands below one by one:

• Remove the alternative links:

  sudo update-alternatives --remove java /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/bin/java

  sudo update-alternatives --remove javac /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/bin/javac

  sudo update-alternatives --remove jar /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/bin/jar

• Remove JDK installation files:

  sudo rm -R /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21

• And remove JAVA HOME config files:

  sudo rm /etc/profile.d/jdk.sh

  sudo rm /etc/profile.d/jdk.csh