Updating Java/NetBeans on OS X

Oracle Java on OS X

After moving to Oracle’s Java to use on OS X, one finds a new System Preference pane which launches a Java preferences App. Included here is a preset option to update Java. However, one should note that if one installed the JDK (Java Development Kit) as opposed to the JRE (Java Run Time environment) only the JRE portion of the package is automatically updated. It appears one has to manually download and update the JDK to get that portion of the package updated. Investigating a bit, it looks like the attention is on the JRE and only the linkages for the Applet usage are updated automatically. The JDK and its command line version of java are not updated in addition to all the other components of the JDK. This is probably not all bad as it means the development environment does not change on you without notice.

NetBeans on OS X

To update NetBeans, download a later version, start the new version and agree to migration from the earlier release. Then, when you are ready to eliminate the old version of NetBeans, go to the /Applications/NetBeans directory and delete only that old version.

Update: 25 Jan 2014 – The template directory is made when the first template is created. On the Mac, it is located at ~/Library/Application\ Support/NetBeans/7.4/config/Templates and has a Classes directory and a Properties directory. It appears that one can move the templates from one config directory to a new one as part of migrating.