How to I change the default JVM heap size on OS X?

Question

I am looking for a way to change the default JVM memory settings on OS X, not for a specific application.

And, yes I know that each application can override this.

Currently running Java 1.6 on OS X 10.8

Answer 1

This should do the trick:

1. Go to Applications / Utilities and open the Java Preferences.
2. Select the Java version you're interested in.
3. Hit Options and add the Heap size argument, which is -Xmx followed by amount of memory you want it to have. (e.g. -Xmx1024).