Android Studio on mac : cant find System compiler

Question

Im getting this on one of my macs when I try to compile even "hello world"

Error:Execution failed for task ':app:compileDebugJava'.

Cannot find System Java Compiler. Ensure that you have installed a JDK (not just a JRE) and configured your JAVA_HOME system variable to point to the according directory.

On my other mac, I dont have any problems. The setup is the same as far as I can tell. It's just that for some reason, on one machine, Android Studio / Gradle pops this error message.

I have set

JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_60.jdk/Contents/Home

running /usr/libexec/java_home gives:

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_60.jdk/Contents/Home

running javac -version gives :

javac 1.7.0_60-ea

running java -version gives:

java version "1.7.0_60-ea"

Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_60-ea-b15)

Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.60-b09, mixed mode)

In Android Studio I have set file->other settings->default project settings-> JDK location to the JDK location listed above.

I've run out of options, why am I still getting this message?

thanks for any help, Ive wasted hours on this already.

Answer 1

One possible solution is :

The android studio needs the jdk 1.6+ by default, but your JDK is 1.7.

You can show the package content of the Android Studioin Applications folder, and the open the info.plist, change the JVM version to your JDK's version, which is 1.7* here.

(you see, my JDK version is 1.8 in my computer)

Answer 2

Rich_LogicBox solution also worked for me. I've struggled for weeks with different java versions making no difference. When I removed the jar files placed in /Library/Java/Extensions by auskey, the Android Studio error disappeared.

Answer 3

My findings from an identical error proved to be due to a clash of Java Jar files that were not related with the Android studio install. Specifically the tools.jar and auskey.jar under /Library/Java/Extensions More info here