Use Android SDK Manager with Java 11
June 9, 2019 — 2 Min Read
Since with the release 11 some deprecated packages used by the Android SDK were removed, it’s not yet possible to run it with the latest Java versions. As a workaround it’s possible to download the required classes separately and add them to the classpath, or install the latest supported version, java 1.8. This latter approach is the recommended one.
Exception with newer Java versions
When using the sdk with newes version of Java the following exception will happen:
$ $ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin/sdkmanager
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/xml/bind/annotation/XmlSchema
at com.android.repository.api.SchemaModule$SchemaModuleVersion.<init>(SchemaModule.java:156)
at com.android.repository.api.SchemaModule.<init>(SchemaModule.java:75)
at com.android.sdklib.repository.AndroidSdkHandler.<clinit>(AndroidSdkHandler.java:81)
at com.android.sdklib.tool.sdkmanager.SdkManagerCli.main(SdkManagerCli.java:73)
at com.android.sdklib.tool.sdkmanager.SdkManagerCli.main(SdkManagerCli.java:48)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlSchema
at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:583)
at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoaders.java:178)
at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:521)
... 5 more
As said this is because some packaged required by the SDK were removed in Java 11.
Install old version of java
Just download the desired version of the JDK;
On macOS is possible to use brew to install different versions.
Switch between versions
To check the installed version of Java on macOS:
$ /usr/libexec/java_home -V
Matching Java Virtual Machines (2):
11.0.2, x86_64: "Java SE 11.0.2" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-11.0.2.jdk/Contents/Home
1.8.0_181, x86_64: "Java SE 8" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_181.jdk/Contents/Home
And to check the current active one:
$ echo $JAVA_HOME
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-11.0.2.jdk/Contents/Home
or:
$ java -version
java version "11.0.2" 2019-01-15 LTS
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment 18.9 (build 11.0.2+9-LTS)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM 18.9 (build 11.0.2+9-LTS, mixed mode)
To easily switch between the two sdk it’s possible to define aliases:
j11='export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-11.0.2.jdk/Contents/Home; java -version'
j8='export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_181.jdk/Contents/Home; java -version'
so that it’s possible to activate the required version with:
# activate Java 11:
j11
# activate Java 1.8
j8
Conclusion
Now it will be possible to run the Android SDK with:
j8
$ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin/sdkmanager