Question

There has been some speculation that Apple's Snow Leopard would finally include a version of Java 6 that works on 32-bit Intel hardware. Now that the OS has been released, can anybody confirm whether or not this is the case?

If anybody here has installed Snow Leopard on a 32-bit machine, could you please run the following command and report the output?

java -version

Answer 1

I have a 32-bit only Mac and did a fresh install of Snow Leopard. It is an original black MacBook (model 1,1).

Here is the output for 'java -version' which would be the default java version:

java version "1.6.0_15"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_15-b03-219)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 14.1-b02-90, mixed mode)

Answer 2

I installed this morning. Looking in "Java Preferences", this is the info I have:

Java SE 6 64 bit

Java SE 6 32 bit

My machine is a 64 bit, but if the 32 bit version is available to me, I don't see why they would not make it available to people using 32 bit machines.

Answer 3

I came across this link.

I needed Java 1.5 for legacy app.

I've follow the instructions there and now I'm able to choose from:

The directory end up looking like this:

I not sure how trustworthy the JDK I've downloaded is, though. :(

Answer 4

These versions are provided in the JavaVM Framework:

1.3.1 (1.3)

1.6.0 (1.5, 1.5.0, 1.6)

Answer 5

I noticed as Cyberduck has some trouble, but indeed, on a first generation MacBook, 32 bit, Snow Leopard:

cd /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/

total 48
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    5 Aug 29 11:24 1.3 -> 1.3.1
drwxr-xr-x  3 root  wheel  102 Jul 21 01:35 1.3.1
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel   10 Aug 29 11:24 1.5 -> CurrentJDK
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel   10 Aug 29 11:24 1.5.0 -> CurrentJDK
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    5 Aug 29 11:24 1.6 -> 1.6.0
drwxr-xr-x  8 root  wheel  272 Aug 29 11:55 1.6.0
drwxr-xr-x  9 root  wheel  306 Aug 29 11:55 A
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    1 Aug 29 11:24 Current -> A
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    3 Aug 29 11:24 CurrentJDK -> 1.6

(Not sure if I like SL deleting my previous Java SDKs, but well, it removed my printers as well...)

Answer 6

If you can't update to Snow Leopard for any reason you can always use this fix to get 1.6.0 working on your 32-bit macbook... works pretty good for me. I'll upgrade to Snow Leopard once I have time to make a safe backup of HD