JavaFinder: Keeping Track of Java Inventories

Do you ever wonder how many Java distributions you have installed on your machine?

I not only mean versions that you use for development but also versions that come bundled with the applications you use.

Last weekend I decided to write a little tool that can help me to figure that out... JavaFinder.

This is a simple command line tool that will search a given path, including its subfolders for any OpenJDK distribution or GraalVM derivate.

So it's nothing really fancy but could sometimes be useful.

Usage
Per default, it will print all distributions found in non-beautified JSON format in the console, when I run it on my Macbook Pro without any parameters, like this, simply javafinder, the output will look as follows:

{"search_path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/","sysinfo":{"operating_system":"Mac OS","architecture":"ARM64","bit":"64 Bit"},"distributions":[{"vendor":"Gluon","name":"Gluon GraalVM","version":"22.1.0.1","path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/gluon-graalvm/Contents/Home/","build_scope":"GraalVM"},{"vendor":"Azul","name":"Zulu","version":"8.0.372+7","path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-8.jdk/zulu-8.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/","build_scope":"OpenJDK"},{"vendor":"Azul","name":"Zulu","version":"8.0.372+7","path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-8.jdk/zulu-8.jdk/Contents/Home/","build_scope":"OpenJDK"},{"vendor":"Azul","name":"Zulu","version":"11.0.19","path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-11.jdk/zulu-11.jdk/Contents/Home/","build_scope":"OpenJDK"},{"vendor":"Oracle","name":"Graal VM CE","version":"22.3.1","path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/graalvm-ce-java17-22.3.1/Contents/Home/","build_scope":"GraalVM"},{"vendor":"Azul","name":"Zulu","version":"17.0.7","path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-17.jdk/zulu-17.jdk/Contents/Home/","build_scope":"OpenJDK"},{"vendor":"Azul","name":"Zulu","version":"20.0.1","path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-20.jdk/zulu-20.jdk/Contents/Home/","build_scope":"OpenJDK"},{"vendor":"Azul","name":"Zulu","version":"21-ea+22","path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-21.jdk/zulu-21.jdk/Contents/Home/","build_scope":"OpenJDK"}]}

When called with the json parameter, javafinder json, the output will be in beautfied JSON, as follows:

{
   "search_path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines",
   "sysinfo":{
      "operating_system":"macos",
      "architecture":"arm64",
      "bit":"64"
   },
   "distributions":[
      {
         "vendor":"Azul",
         "name":"Zulu",
         "version":"17.0.7",
         "path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-17.jdk/zulu-17.jdk/Contents/Home/",
         "build_scope":"OpenJDK"
      },
      {
         "vendor":"Azul",
         "name":"Zulu",
         "version":"8.0.372+7",
         "path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-8.jdk/zulu-8.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/",
         "build_scope":"OpenJDK"
      },
      {
         "vendor":"Azul",
         "name":"Zulu",
         "version":"8.0.372+7",
         "path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-8.jdk/zulu-8.jdk/Contents/Home/",
         "build_scope":"OpenJDK"
      },
      {
         "vendor":"Azul",
         "name":"Zulu",
         "version":"11.0.19",
         "path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-11.jdk/zulu-11.jdk/Contents/Home/",
         "build_scope":"OpenJDK"
      },
      {
         "vendor":"Azul",
         "name":"Zulu",
         "version":"20.0.1",
         "path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-20.jdk/zulu-20.jdk/Contents/Home/",
         "build_scope":"OpenJDK"
      },
      {
         "vendor":"Oracle",
         "name":"Graal VM CE",
         "version":"22.3.1",
         "path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/graalvm-ce-java17-22.3.1/Contents/Home/",
         "build_scope":"GraalVM"
      },
      {
         "vendor":"Azul",
         "name":"Zulu",
         "version":"21-ea+21",
         "path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-21.jdk/zulu-21.jdk/Contents/Home/",
         "build_scope":"OpenJDK"
      },
      {
         "vendor":"Gluon",
         "name":"Gluon GraalVM",
         "version":"22.1.0.1",
         "path":"/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/gluon-graalvm/Contents/Home/",
         "build_scope":"GraalVM"
      }
   ]
}

If you prefer something simpler, there's also the possibility to output the results in CSV format.

In this case, you need to run the program as follows javafinder csvand the output will look like follows:

Vendor,Distribution,Version,Path,Type Azul,Zulu,21-ea+21,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-21.jdk/zulu-21.jdk/Contents/Home/,OpenJDK Oracle,Graal VM CE,22.3.1,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/graalvm-ce-java17-22.3.1/Contents/Home/,GraalVM Azul,Zulu,20.0.1,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-20.jdk/zulu-20.jdk/Contents/Home/,OpenJDK Azul,Zulu,11.0.19,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-11.jdk/zulu-11.jdk/Contents/Home/,OpenJDK Azul,Zulu,8.0.372+7,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-8.jdk/jre/,OpenJDK Azul,Zulu,8.0.372+7,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-8.jdk/,OpenJDK Azul,Zulu,20.0.1,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-20.jdk/,OpenJDK Azul,Zulu,21-ea+21,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-21.jdk/,OpenJDK Gluon,Gluon GraalVM,22.1.0.1,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/gluon-graalvm/Contents/Home/,GraalVM Azul,Zulu,8.0.372+7,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-8.jdk/zulu-8.jdk/Contents/Home/,OpenJDK Azul,Zulu,17.0.7,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-17.jdk/,OpenJDK Azul,Zulu,11.0.19,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-11.jdk/,OpenJDK Azul,Zulu,17.0.7,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-17.jdk/zulu-17.jdk/Contents/Home/,OpenJDK Azul,Zulu,8.0.372+7,/System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/zulu-8.jdk/zulu-8.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/,OpenJDK

On Linux and Mac you simply can save that into a file using javafinder csv > jdks.csv

In the examples above I did not specify any paths to search for distributions which will make JavaFinder search in
pre-defined folders for each operating system

• Windows: C:\Program Files\Java\
• Linux: /usr/lib/jvm
• MacOS: /System/Volumes/Data/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/

In case you would like to search in a specific path you can simply add it to the command as follows:

• MACOS
  Search all paths in /Users/hansolo by executing
  >: javafinder /Users/YOUR_USER_NAME -> output will be in non beautified json format
  >: javafinder json /Users/YOUR_USER_NAME -> output will be in beautified json format
  >: javafinder csv /Users/YOUR_USER_NAME -> output will be in csv format
• LINUX
  Search all paths in your home folder
  >: javafinder /home/YOUR_USER_NAME -> output will be in non beautified json format
  >: javafinder json /home/YOUR_USER_NAME -> output will be in beautified json format
  >: javafinder csv /home/YOUR_USER_NAME -> output will be in csv format
• WINDOWS
  Search all paths in your home folder
  >: javafinder.exe c:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME -> output will be in non beautified json format
  >: javafinder.exe json c:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME -> output will be in beautified json format
  >: javafinder.exe csv c:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME -> output will be in csv format

Note: Be aware that scanning for distributions can take some time, especially when you point to a path like your user home folder, etc. The less subfolders are in the given path, the faster the scanning will be.

Download
JavaFinder is available for Windows (x64), Linux (x64 and aarch64) and MacOS (x64 and aarch64) and you can find it over at GitHub.