Ability to use system installed versions

[stephanedaviet]

I have a bunch of Java versions installed on my Linux. I would like to be able to use them instead of installing a new one in the mise install folder. Is it possible? Does making a symlink from system installation folder to .local/share/mise/installs is enough and the right way to do it?

I know for the system keyword in .tool-versions, but it's only able to use the default system version, not a specific one.

Here the versions I have:

$ update-alternatives --list java
/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64/bin/java
/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-amd64/bin/java
/usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk-amd64/bin/java
/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java
/usr/lib/jvm/temurin-11-jdk-amd64/bin/java
/usr/lib/jvm/temurin-17-jdk-amd64/bin/java
/usr/lib/jvm/temurin-21-jdk-amd64/bin/java
/usr/lib/jvm/temurin-8-jdk-amd64/bin/java

[jdx]

use the path scope: https://mise.jdx.dev/configuration.html#scopes

[stephanedaviet]

It's not really portable across developers, as each person can have a different installation path. I solve the problem with symbolic links:

$ ls -l ~/.local/share/mise/installs/java/
[...] 11 -> /usr/lib/jvm/temurin-11-jdk-amd64/
[...] 17 -> /usr/lib/jvm/temurin-17-jdk-amd64/
[...] 21 -> /usr/lib/jvm/temurin-21-jdk-amd64/
[...] 8 -> /usr/lib/jvm/temurin-8-jdk-amd64/

This way, a java 11 in .tools-version use the system installed version instead of downloading a new one.

[jdx]

You can use aliases or .mise.local.toml

[jdx]

Symlinks are fine too of course