How to set Java version for Maven on OS X

Check Java Version

I use jEnv to manage different Java versions on OSX. The default is 1.8.

$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_45"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_45-b14)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.45-b02, mixed mode)

However, the maven still uses Java 1.6.0.

Check Maven Version

$ mvn -v
Apache Maven 3.2.5 (12a6b3acb947671f09b81f49094c53f426d8cea1; 2014-12-14T17:29:23+00:00)
Maven home: /Users/ykf_2001/Programs/apache-maven/apache-maven-3.2.5
Java version: 1.6.0_65, vendor: Apple Inc.
Java home: /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home
Default locale: en_US, platform encoding: MacRoman
OS name: "mac os x", version: "10.10.4", arch: "x86_64", family: "mac"

Set maven to use Java 1.8 temporarily

$ JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/ mvn -v  
Apache Maven 3.2.5 (12a6b3acb947671f09b81f49094c53f426d8cea1; 2014-12-14T17:29:23+00:00)
Maven home: /Users/ykf_2001/Programs/apache-maven/apache-maven-3.2.5
Java version: 1.8.0_45, vendor: Oracle Corporation
Java home: /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/jre
Default locale: en_US, platform encoding: UTF-8
OS name: "mac os x", version: "10.10.4", arch: "x86_64", family: "mac"

Or add to ~/.mavenrc

$ echo 'export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/' >> ~/.mavenrc

Or write a bash script and export JAVA_HOME in script and then run maven

build.sh

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/
mvn -v

​