Linux ARM64 installer fails to detect valid OpenJDK installations (Java 17/21/25) on Debian sid

[mbrennwa]

Platform:

• Debian Linux (ARM64 / aarch64)
• Current Debian sid environment
• OpenJDK installed from Debian packages

Installed Java runtimes:

• OpenJDK 17
• OpenJDK 21
• OpenJDK 25

Example:

java -version<br>openjdk version "25.0.3" 2026-04-21<br>OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 25.0.3+9-2-Debian)<br>OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.0.3+9-2-Debian, mixed mode, sharing)<br>
Problem:
The Linux "no JRE" installer for REW fails to detect valid installed JVMs on ARM64 Linux.

Installer tested:

REW_linux_no_jre_5_31_3.sh<br>
Observed behavior:
Running the installer gives:

No suitable Java Virtual Machine could be found on your system.<br>The version of the JVM must be 1.8.<br>Please define INSTALL4J_JAVA_HOME to point to a suitable JVM.<br>
Tested with:

INSTALL4J_JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-arm64 ./REW_linux_no_jre_5_31_3.sh<br>
and also:

INSTALL4J_JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk-arm64 ./REW_linux_no_jre_5_31_3.sh<br>
and:

INSTALL4J_JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-25-openjdk-arm64 ./REW_linux_no_jre_5_31_3.sh<br>
Result:
Same error in all cases.

Available JVM directories:

/usr/lib/jvm/default-java<br>/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-arm64<br>/usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk-arm64<br>/usr/lib/jvm/java-25-openjdk-arm64<br>
Assessment:
This appears to be an issue with the installer wrapper / JVM detection logic rather than REW itself.

Possibilities:

• installer hardcodes Java 8 detection
• installer does not recognize newer Java version formats
• installer does not correctly handle ARM64 JVM installations
• installer may incorrectly reject modular JDK/JRE layouts from modern OpenJDK packages

Suggested improvement:

• support current OpenJDK LTS releases (17/21)
• improve ARM64 JVM detection
• provide a plain tar.gz / jar distribution without installer wrapper
• document supported Java versions explicitly for Linux ARM users

 

[John Mulcahy]

5.31.3 requires Java 8.

 

[John Mulcahy]