Java VM Issues While Installing Eclipse Neon on macOS Sierra

When installing the Eclipse IDE, one must be running a version of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) that is compatible with the version of Eclipse that is being installed.

I was trying to install Eclipse Neon on macOS Sierra, which is the most recent major release. Sierra ships with Java, but not the version which is required by Neon, which is 1.8.

As a result, upon trying to install Eclipse Neon, you will likely see a box that looks like this (except it will say 1.8 rather than 1.7):

unsuitable JVM

Though there are multiple ways to upgrade Java on the Mac, it seems getting it from Oracle is the only one that works from what I’ve seen.

To upgrade the JVM on macOS to 1.8, go to the Oracle Java SE Runtime Environment downloads page and get the file for Mac; I prefer getting the dmg package file:

Java SE downloads page

Install the Java SE package like any other Mac application and Eclipse can then be installed.

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