Oracle Java JDK 19 is out! Here are the new features and how to install instructions for Ubuntu users.

First, for Linux users the release now ported to support the RV64GV configuration of RISC-V, a general-purpose 64-bit ISA.

The release also introduced record patterns to deconstruct record values. Record patterns and type patterns can be nested to enable a powerful, declarative, and composable form of data navigation and processing. Though it’s a preview feature so far.

There are also 2 other preview features: a foreign function & memory API can interoperate with code and data outside of the Java runtime; a lightweight virtual threads that dramatically reduce the effort of writing, maintaining, and observing high-throughput concurrent applications; pattern matching for switch expressions and statements.

JDK 19 also introduced an API to express vector computations that reliably compile at runtime to optimal vector instructions, and an API for structured concurrency.

Other changes include:

• New system properties for System.out and System.err.
• upgrade Unicode support to 14.0
• HTTPS channel binding support for Java GSS/Kerberos.
• Support for PAC-RET protection on Linux/AArch64
• Add a -providerPath option to jarsigner
• New options for ktab to provide Non-Default salt
• As well, there are removed and deprecated APIs and features. See release note details.

How to Install Java JDK 19 in Ubuntu Linux:

Oracle website provides the 64-bit DEB/RPM packages for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora based systems. Just go download the package for your system from the link below:

In recent Linux systems, you can simply double-click on the package to install via system Software App. To set the Java home variable and use JDK 19 as default, see this step by step how to tutorial.

This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest Oracle Java (JDK 21 so far) 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 in Ubuntu:

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

1. Download Java package

Firstly, go to oracle website and select download the .deb package:

It’s the 64-bit .deb package for modern PC and laptops, or tarball for ARM cpu architecture.

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

Here you may also double-click the .deb in file manager to install it via Ubuntu Software App.

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:

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

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

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

It installs the files into ‘/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-21/‘ directory. To set it as default, do the following 2 steps one by one.

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 20 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.

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 23.04+.

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

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

sudo apt remove --autoremove jdk-21

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