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Install from source

中文 | English

vfox add java installs the latest release. To try main before its next release, or a change you are working on, build the plugin from source. A plugin is a metadata.lua plus the hooks and lib directories, and vfox adds one from a zip of them.

Ubuntu 26.04

Execute in Bash,

sudo apt install --assume-yes git zip
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/version-fox/vfox-java.git
cd ./vfox-java/
zip -qr ./java.zip metadata.lua hooks lib
vfox add java --source ./java.zip
rm ./java.zip

macOS is the same, with git and zip that come with the system.

Windows 11

Assume that PowerShell 7 is already installed. Execute in PowerShell 7,

winget install --id Git.Git --source winget --exact
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/version-fox/vfox-java.git
cd ./vfox-java/
tar -a -cf ./java.zip metadata.lua hooks lib
vfox add java --source ./java.zip
Remove-Item ./java.zip

Check it

vfox install java@21-tem
vfox use --global java@21-tem
java -version

vfox install java@21-tem installs the newest Temurin 21, 21.0.12.1+1-tem on 2026-10-18.

When java is already added

vfox add refuses with plugin named java already exists. You can replace the plugin or add the source build next to it.

To replace it, vfox remove java comes first, and it removes the JDKs installed through the plugin as well: vfox says so before it asks. Reinstall them afterwards.

To keep both, give the new one another name:

vfox add java --source ./java.zip --alias java-dev
vfox install java-dev@21-tem
vfox remove -y java-dev            # removes only java-dev and what it installed

The alias has its own list of installed JDKs, but JAVA_HOME is ~/.vfox/sdks/java for both. Select a version from only one of them per scope: for the global scope, vfox unuse --global java before you vfox use --global java-dev@..., or the other way round. With both selected, vfox relinks both on every prompt, and JAVA_HOME can end up at either.

Updating

Pull, build the zip again and add it again. A plugin added under its own name has to be removed first, and that takes the installed JDKs with it, so the alias is the easier route when you update often:

vfox remove -y java-dev
vfox add java --source ./java.zip --alias java-dev

vfox update java compares the version in metadata.lua with the registry's and prints java is already the latest version while they are equal, so it leaves a source build alone until a release newer than that version is published.

To work on the plugin, see development.md.