Installing the JDK on macOS
If your Mac is running macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or any later version of macOS, you should install the current version of the Java JDK. If you have Java 8 installed, this might tell you that Java is up to date but this information is incorrect. Java 8 is a very old version of Java and has bugs that can cause MinimServer or MinimWatch to fail to start or to crash.
JDK 21 is recommended because this is the latest version of Java that has long-term support. MinimServer and MinimWatch have been tested extensively with this version. See the section Installing the JDK below for details of how to install this version.
Note: If your Mac is running macOS 10.12 (Sierra) or any earlier version of macOS, you need to install Java 8 because later versions of Java are not compatible with your version of macOS. For more information, see the page Installing Java 8 on macOS.
Installing the JDK
To install the recommended JDK version (JDK 21) on macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later, do the following:
- If MinimServer or MinimWatch is currently running, select Exit from the menu bar icon
- Visit the Java Downloads page
- Select the JDK 21 tab, then select the macOS tab
- If you are using an Apple Silicon Mac (M1, M2, M3), download the ARM64 DMG Installer package
- If you are using an Intel-based Mac, download the x64 DMG Installer package
- After the download has completed, double-click the downloaded file
- You should see a window containing a package icon. Double-click this icon and follow the installation prompts.
- Start MinimServer by following the instructions in this section or start MinimWatch by following the instructions in this section