man page java section 1

java(1) java(1)

NAME

 java - Java application launcher

SYNOPSIS

 java [ options ] class [ argument... ]
 java [ options ] -jar file.jar
 [ argument... ]

PARAMETERS

 options Command-line options.
 class Name of the class to be invoked.
 file.jar Name of the jar file to be invoked. Used only with the
 -jar option.
 argument Argument passed to the main function.

DESCRIPTION

 The java tool launches a Java application. It does this by starting a
 Java runtime environment, loading a specified class, and invoking that
 class's main method. The method must be declared public and static ,
 it must not return any value, and it must accept a String array as a
 parameter. The method declaration must look like the following:
 public static void main(String args[])
 By default, the first non-option argument is the name of the class to
 be invoked. A fully-qualified class name should be used. If the -jar
 option is specified, the first non-option argument is the name of a JAR
 archive containing class and resource files for the application, with
 the startup class indicated by the Main-Class manifest header.
 The Java runtime searches for the startup class, and other classes
 used, in three sets of locations: the bootstrap class path, the
 installed extensions, and the user class path.
 Non-option arguments after the class name or JAR file name are passed
 to the main function.

OPTIONS

 The launcher has a set of standard options that are supported on the
 current runtime environment and will be supported in future releases.
 In addition, the current impletmentations of the virtual machines sup-
 port a set of non-standard options that are subject to change in future
 releases.
 Standard Options
 -client Selects the Java HotSpot Client VM. For more
 information see Server-Class Machine Detection at
 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/vm/server-
 class.html
 -server Selects the Java HotSpot Server VM. For more
 information see Server-Class Machine Detection at
 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/vm/server-
 class.html
 -agentlib:libname[=options]
 Load native agent library libname, e.g.,
 -agentlib:hprof
 -agentlib:jdwp=help
 -agentlib:hprof=help
 For more information, see JVMTI Agent Command Line Options at
 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/jvmti/jvmti.html
 -agentpath:pathname[=options]
 Load a native agent library by full pathname. For more informa-
 tion, see JVMTI Agent Command Line Options at
 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/jvmti/jvmti.html
 -classpath classpath
 -cp classpath
 Specifies a list of directories, JAR archives, and ZIP archives
 to search for class files. Class path entries are separated by
 colons (:). Specifying -classpath or -cp overrides any setting
 of the CLASSPATH environment variable.
 If -classpath and -cp are not used and CLASSPATH is not set, the
 user class path consists of the current directory (.).
 -Dproperty=value
 Sets a system property value.
 -d32, -d64
 Specified whether the program is to be run in a 32-bit or 64-bit
 environment if available.
 Currently, only the Java HotSpot Server VM supports 64-bit oper-
 ations and the -server option is implicit with the use of -d64 .
 This is subject to change in a future release.
 If neither -d32 nor -d64 is specified, the default is to run in
 a 32-bit environment, except for 64-bit only systems. This is
 subject to change in a future release.
 -enableassertions :<package name>... |:<class name>
 -ea :<package name>... |:<class name>
 Enable assertions. Assertions are disabled by default.
 With no arguments, enableassertions or -ea enable assertions.
 With one argument ending in "...", the switch enables assertions
 in the specified package and any subpackages. If the argument is
 simply "...", the switch enables assertions in the unnamed pack-
 age in the current working directory. With one argument not end-
 ing in "...", the switch enables assertions in the specified
 class.
 If a single command line contains multiple instances of these
 switches, they are processed in order before loading any
 classes. So, for example, to run a program with assertions
 enabled only in package com.wombat.fruitbat (and any subpack-
 ages), the following command could be used:
 java -ea:com.wombat.fruitbat... <Main Class>
 The -enableassertions and -ea switches apply to all s loaders
 and to system classes (which do not have a class loader). There
 is one exception to this rule: in their no-argument form, the
 switches do not apply to system. This makes it easy to turn on
 asserts in all classes except for system classes. A separate
 switch is provided to enable asserts in all system classes; see
 -enablesystemassertions below.
 -disableassertions :<package name>... |:<class name>
 -da :<package name>... |:<class name>/fR
 Disable assertions. This is the default.
 With no arguments, disableassertions or -da disables assertions.
 With one argument ending in "...", the switch disables asser-
 tions in the specified package and any subpackages. If the argu-
 ment is simply "...", the switch disables assertions in the
 unnamed package in the rent working directory. With one argument
 not ending in "...", the switch disables assertions in the spec-
 ified class.
 To run a program with assertions enabled in package com.wom-
 bat.fruitbat but disabled in class com.wombat.fruitbat.Brickbat,
 the following command could be used:
 java -ea:com.wombat.fruitbat... -da:com.wombat.fruitbat.Brickbat
 <Main Class>
 The -disableassertions and -da switches apply to all ss loaders
 and to system classes (which do not have a class loader). There
 is one exception to this rule: in their no-argument form, the
 switches do not apply to system. This makes it easy to turn on
 asserts in all classes except for system classes. A separate
 switch is provided to enable asserts in all system classes; see
 -disablesystemassertions below.
 -enablesystemassertions
 -esa Enable asserts in all system classes (sets the default assertion
 status for system classes to true).
 -disablesystemassertions
 -dsa Disables asserts in all system classes
 -jar Execute a program encapsulated in a JAR archive. The first
 argument is the name of a JAR file instead of a startup class
 name. In order for this option to work, the manifest of the JAR
 file must contain a line of the form Main-Class:classname.
 Here, classname identifies the class having the public static
 void main(String[] args) method that serves as your applica-
 tion's starting point. See the Jar tool reference page and the
 Jar trail of the Java Tutorial for information about working
 with Jar files and Jar-file manifests.
 When you use this option, the JAR file is the source of all user
 classes, and other user class path settings are ignored.
 Note that JAR files that can be run with the "java -jar" option
 can have their execute permissions set so they can be run with-
 out using "java -jar". Refer to Java Archive (JAR) Files.
 -javaagent:jarpath[=options]
 Load a Java programming language agent, see java.lang.instru-
 ment.
 -verbose
 -verbose:class
 Displays information about each class loaded.
 -verbose:gc
 Reports on each garbage collection event.
 -verbose:jni
 Reports information about use of native methods and other Java
 Native Interface activity.
 -version
 Displays version information and exit.
 -showversion
 Displays version information and continues.
 -?
 -help Displays usage information and exit.
 -X Displays information about non-standard options and exit.
 Non-Standard Options
 -Xint Operates in interpreted-only mode. Compilation to
 native code is disabled, and all bytecodes are exe-
 cuted by the interpreter. The performance benefits
 offered by the Java HotSpot VMs' adaptive compiler
 will not be present in this mode.
 -Xbatch Disable background compilation. Normally the VM
 will compile the method as a background task, run-
 ning the method in interpreter mode until the back-
 ground compilation is finished. The -Xbatch flag
 disables background compilation so that compilation
 of all methods proceeds as a foreground task until
 completed.
 -Xdebug Start with support for JVMDI enabled. JVMDI has
 been deprecated and is not used for debugging in
 J2SE 5.0, so this option isn't needed for debugging
 in J2SE 5.0.
 -Xbootclasspath:bootclasspath
 Specify a colon-separated list of directories, JAR
 archives, and ZIP archives to search for boot class
 files. These are used in place of the boot class
 files included in the Java 2 SDK. Note: Applica-
 tions that use this option for the purpose of over-
 riding a class in rt.jar should not be deployed as
 doing so would contravene the Java 2 Runtime Envi-
 ronment binary code license.
 -Xbootclasspath/a:path
 Specifies a colon-separated path of directories,
 JAR archives, and ZIP archives to append to the
 default bootstrap class path.
 -Xbootclasspath/p:path
 Specifies a colon-separated path of directories,
 JAR archives, and ZIP archives to prepend in front
 of the default bootstrap class path. Note: Appli-
 cations that use this option for the purpose of
 overriding a class in rt.jar should not be
 deployed, as doing so would contravene the Java 2
 Runtime Environment binary code license.
 -Xcheck:jni Perform additional checks for Java Native Interface
 (JNI) functions. Specifically, the Java Virtual
 Machine validates the parameters passed to the JNI
 function as well as the runtime environment data
 before processing the JNI request. Any invalid data
 encountered indicates a problem in the native code,
 and the Java Virtual Machine will terminate with a
 fatal error in such cases. Expect a performance
 degradation when this option is used.
 -Xfuture Performs strict class-file format checks. For pur-
 poses of backwards compatibility, the default for-
 mat checks performed by the Java 2 SDK's virtual
 machine are no stricter than the checks performed
 by 1.1.x versions of the JDK software. The -Xfu-
 ture flag turns on stricter class-file format
 checks that enforce closer conformance to the
 class-file format specification. Developers are
 encouraged to use this flag when developing new
 code because the stricter checks will become the
 default in future releases of the Java application
 launcher.
 -Xnoclassgc Disables class garbage collection
 -Xincgc Enable the incremental garbage collector. The
 incremental garbage collector, which is off by
 default, will reduce the occasional garbage-collec-
 tion pauses during program execution. The incremen-
 tal garbage collector will at times execute concur-
 rently with the program and during such times will
 reduce the processor capacity available to the pro-
 gram.
 -Xloggc: file Report on each garbage collection event, as with
 -verbose:gc, but log this data to file. In addi-
 tion to the information -verbose:gc gives, each
 reported event will be preceeded by the time (in
 seconds) since the first garbage-collection event.
 Always use a local file system for storage of this
 file to avoid stalling the JVM due to network
 latency. The file may be truncated in the case of
 a full file system and logging will continue on the
 truncated file. This option overrides -verbose:gc
 if both are given on the command line.
 -Xmsn Specifies the initial size of the memory allocation
 pool. This value must be a multiple of 1024
 greater than 1 MB. Append the letter k or K to
 indicate kilobytes, the letter m or M to indicate
 megabytes, the letter g or G to indicate gigabytes,
 or the letter t or T to indicate terabytes. The
 default value is 2MB. Examples:
 -Xms6291456
 -Xms6144k
 -Xms6m
 -Xmxn Specifies the maximum size, in bytes, of the memory
 allocation pool. This value must be a multiple of
 1024 greater than 2 MB. Append the letter k or K
 to indicate kilobytes, the letter m or M to indi-
 cate megabytes, the letter g or G to indicate giga-
 bytes, or the letter t or T to indicate terabytes.
 The default value is 64MB. Examples:
 -Xmx83886080
 -Xmx81920k
 -Xmx80m
 On Mac OS X platforms, the upper limit for this
 value when running in 32-bit mode (-d32) is approx-
 imately 2100m minus overhead amounts, and approxi-
 mately 127t minus overhead amounts when running in
 64-bit mode (-d64). On Solaris 7 and Solaris 8
 SPARC platforms, the upper limit for this value is
 approximately 4000m minus overhead amounts. On
 Solaris 2.6 and x86 platforms, the upper limit is
 approximately 2000m minus overhead amounts. On
 Linux platforms, the upper limit is approximately
 2000m minus overhead amounts.
 -Xprof Profiles the running program, and sends profiling
 data to standard output. This option is provided
 as a utility that is useful in program development
 and is not intended to be be used in production
 systems.
 -Xrunhprof[:help][:suboption=value,...]
 Enables cpu, heap, or monitor profiling. This
 option is typically followed by a list of comma-
 separated suboption=value pairs. Run the command
 java -Xrunhprof:help to obtain a list of suboptions
 and their default values.
 -Xrs Reduce usage of operating-system signals by Java
 virtual machine (JVM).
 In a previous release, the Shutdown Hooks facility
 was added to allow orderly shutdown of a Java
 application. The intent was to allow user cleanup
 code (such as closing database connections) to run
 at shutdown, even if the JVM terminates abruptly.
 Sun's JVM catches signals to implement shutdown
 hooks for abnormal JVM termination. The JVM uses
 SIGHUP, SIGINT, and SIGTERM to initiate the running
 of shutdown hooks.
 The JVM uses a similar mechanism to implement the
 pre-1.2 feature of dumping thread stacks for debug-
 ging purposes. Sun's JVM uses SIGQUIT to perform
 thread dumps.
 Applications that embed the JVM frequently need to
 trap signals like SIGINT or SIGTERM, which can lead
 to interference with the JVM's own signal handlers.
 The -Xrs command line option is available to
 address this issue. When -Xrs is used on Sun's
 JVM, the signal masks for SIGINT, SIGTERM, SIGHUP,
 and SIGQUIT are not changed by the JVM, and signal
 handlers for these signals are not installed.
 There are two consequences of specifying -Xrs:
 o SIGQUIT thread dumps are not available.
 o User code is responsible for causing shutdown
 hooks to run, for example by calling Sys-
 tem.exit() when the JVM is to be terminated.
 -Xssn Set thread stack size.
 -XX:+UseAltSigs The VM uses SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2 by default, which
 can sometimes conflict with applications that sig-
 nal-chain SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2. The -XX:+UseAltSigs
 option will cause the VM to use signals other than
 SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2 as the default.

NAME

SYNOPSIS

PARAMETERS

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS

SEE ALSO