JDK-5022389 : "java -version" should mention that the VM is made by Sun
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Component: tools
  • Sub-Component: launcher
  • Affected Version: 1.4.2
  • Priority: P4
  • Status: Closed
  • Resolution: Won't Fix
  • OS: linux
  • CPU: x86
  • Submitted: 2004-03-29
  • Updated: 2012-09-10
  • Resolved: 2012-09-10
Related Reports
Relates :  
JDK-6452854 - Provide a flag to print the java configuration
Description

Name: rmT116609			Date: 03/29/2004


A DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUEST :
Many of my systems have multiple JREs installed.  I often check to see which one is enabled by typing "java -version"  Here are the results for various VMs:

$ java -version
java version "1.4.1"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.1)
Classic VM (build 1.4.1, J2RE 1.4.1 IBM build cxia321411-20030930 (JIT enabled: jitc))

$ java -version
java version "1.4.1"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build Blackdown-1.4.1-01)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build Blackdown-1.4.1-01, mixed mode)

$ java -version
java version "1.4.2_04"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.2_04-b05)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.2_04-b05, mixed mode)

Often the item I'm looking for is which vm is installed (blackdown, ibm, sun) but whenever the sun vm is installed I do a double-take because there is no mention of "Sun" in the version message.

It would be nice if the version message mentioned "Sun" somewhere in the text.

JUSTIFICATION :
This enhancement would make it easier to tell which VM is active in a system.
(Incident Review ID: 245372) 
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Comments
EVALUATION An alternate solution has been provided to dump all the system settings, changing the version string will break compatibility.
10-09-2012
EVALUATION I think this is reasonable, however instead of adding more things to the compact version strings it makes more sense for a comprehensive option to dump all the system properties and defaults. See 6452854.
29-09-2010