MacLochlainns Weblog

In my classes, we use a VMware Linux install with SQL Developer. One of my students called me in a panic after an upgrade of packages when SQL Developer failed to launch. The student was astute enough to try running it from the command line where it generates an error like:

 Oracle SQL Developer
 Copyright (c) 2005, 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 
/opt/sqldeveloper/sqldeveloper/bin/../../ide/bin/launcher.sh: line 954: [: : integer expression expected
The JDK (/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.222.b10-0.fc30.x86_64/) is not a valid JDK.
The JDK was specified by a SetJavaHome directive in a .conf file or by a --setjavahome option.
Type the full pathname of a JDK installation (or Ctrl-C to quit), the path will be stored in /home/student/.sqldeveloper/19.2.0/product.conf
 
Error:  Unable to get APP_JAVA_HOME input from stdin after 10 tries

The error is simple, the SQL Developer package update wipe clean the configuration of the SetJavaHome variable in the user’s ~/.sqldeveloper/19.2.0/product.conf file. The fix is three steps because its very likely that the Java packages were also updated. Here’s how to fix it:

1. Navigate to the directory where you’ve installed the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and find the current version of the JVM installed:

   cd /usr/lib/jvm ls java*

   cd /usr/lib/jvm ls java*

   It will return a set of files, like:

   java java-1.8.0 java-1.8.0-openjdk java-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.252.b09-0.fc30.x86_64 java-openjdk jre jre-1.8.0 jre-1.8.0-openjdk jre-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.252.b09-0.fc30.x86_64 jre-openjdk

   java java-1.8.0 java-1.8.0-openjdk java-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.252.b09-0.fc30.x86_64 java-openjdk jre jre-1.8.0 jre-1.8.0-openjdk jre-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.252.b09-0.fc30.x86_64 jre-openjdk

2. Navigate to your user’s product configuration file with this command:

   cd ~/.sqldeveloper/19.2.0

   cd ~/.sqldeveloper/19.2.0

3. Add the following line to the product.conf file:

   # SetJavaHome /path/jdk SetJavaHome /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.252.b09-0.fc30.x86_64/

   # SetJavaHome /path/jdk SetJavaHome /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.252.b09-0.fc30.x86_64/

Now, you should be able to run it from the command line. The shortcut icon should also work if one was installed. Also, don’t forget to update your $JAVA_HOME variable in the master Bash resource file, or your local user’s .bashrc files.

As always, I hope this helps those looking for a quick solution.