How to set up applications requiring legacy java on El Capitan (OS X 10.11)?

Question

I have a clean install of El Capitan. I have PHPStorm installed on my Macbook Air. When I try to run the application, I get an error that says PHP storm can't be opened because it requires legacy Java SE 6. I've attached an image of the error below.

I had the same problem when I installed Yosemite but I was able to install the legacy java fix (Java for OS X 2014-001) from Apple's website. When I try installing that same java fix I get the following Error: Java for OS X can't be installed on this disk. A newer version of this package is already installed

Any thoughts and help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Answer 1

If you have a problem with Java version on OsX Yosemite or El Capitain, you should download bundled Webstorm (or any other IDE from Jetbrains). It's working, I've tried it by myself.

https://www.jetbrains.com/webstorm/download/

And yes, this is not a programming related question, but it's an IDE for programming and when you come to work at morning and you can't code — that's problem — and you don't care if it's related ;)

Answer 2

i changed version to 1.8 here in below instructions and PhpStorm is now working for me. At the moment all our products require Apple JDK 1.6 to be installed in order to run on Mac. JDK 1.7 from Oracle is not officially supported yet and has known problems that stop us from using it by default. Oracle JDK 1.7.0_40 has added support for Retina and works much better than previous versions on Mac. You are welcome to give it a try in case you have any problems with Apple JDK.

To force running under JDK 1.7 edit /Applications/.app/Contents/Info.plist file, change JVMVersion from 1.6* to 1.7* :

JVMVersion 1.7*

Answer 3

I've used Homebrew to install JDK 1.6.0_65:

brew tap homebrew/cask-versions
brew cask install java6

Answer 4

Download Java 6 for El Capitan:

Java for OS X 2015-001 Beta

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1824

Answer 5

1. Open Terminal.app and write sudo nvram boot-args="rootless=0" + return
2. Reboot
3. Install Java from https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1572?locale=en_US

This will install Java 6, 7 and 8. Enjoy!