OS X: Setting system-wide environment variables

I believe up until Yosemite, I didn’t have issues setting up environmental variables (i.e. JAVA_HOME) via my .bash_profile. As I upgraded, that no longer worked, so I found another way: use a custom .plist in your LaunchAgents folder:

  1. Go to ~/Library/LaunchAgents
  2. Add something like the below and then reboot, or unload-load it via launchctl unload
  3. That’s it!

    4. 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>my.startup</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>sh</string>
    <string>-c</string>
    <string>launchctl setenv APPS_CONFIG '/Users/anton/box/Source/apps_config' | launchctl setenv CATALINA_BASE '/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat7/7.0.63/libexec' | launchctl setenv CATALINA_HOME $CATALINA_BASE | launchctl setenv HOMEBREW_GITHUB_API_TOKEN 'b20aeb90b4d0cbc8352bdc6059073b7be473e4e3' | launchctl setenv JAVA_HOME '/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_51.jdk/Contents/Home/' | launchctl setenv M2_HOME $'/usr/local/Cellar/maven@3.2/3.2.5/libexec' | launchctl setenv GATLING_HOME '/usr/local/Cellar/gatling/2.1.7/'</string>
  </array>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Maven error with Java 6 on OS X: “Unsupported major.minor version 51.0”

If you encounter the error below with Java 6 on OS X, make sure you’re using Maven 3.2.5 or older.

$ mvn
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: org/apache/maven/cli/MavenCli : Unsupported major.minor version 51.0
  at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
  at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClassCond(ClassLoader.java:637)
  at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:621)
  at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:141)
  at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:283)
  at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$000(URLClassLoader.java:58)
  at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:197)
  at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
  at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:190)
  at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.loadClassFromSelf(ClassRealm.java:401)
  at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.strategy.SelfFirstStrategy.loadClass(SelfFirstStrategy.java:42)
  at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.unsynchronizedLoadClass(ClassRealm.java:271)
  at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.loadClass(ClassRealm.java:254)
  at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.loadClass(ClassRealm.java:239)
  at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.getMainClass(Launcher.java:144)
  at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:266)
  at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:229)
  at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:415)
  at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:356)

Maven error in OS X: “Maven already installed, it’s just not linked”

If you use Homebrew on OS X and you come across the error below, just:

  1. $ rm -rf /usr/local/Cellar/maven
  2. $ brew install maven
  3. $ mvn -version
  4. That’s it!

$ brew install maven
Updating Homebrew...
==> Auto-updated Homebrew!
Updated 2 taps (caskroom/cask, caskroom/versions).

Warning: maven-3.5.0 already installed, it's just not linked.