How to get Java 6 in OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion)?

Question

OS X 10.8 removed Java 6 and the Java Utilities switcher and made Java 7 the default jre making it hard for engineers like me who work exclusively on Java 6. How do I get back my Java 6? Note: I tried Google but many of the supposed solutions are outdated.

Answer 1

The simplest solution I found is to

1. Download the jdk6 (download button is on top right)

2. Unpack it to somewhere. Preferably to /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6. This is what it looks for me:

   > ls /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6                                                                                                    
   Classes       Commands      Home          Info.plist    Libraries     MacOS    Resources   version.plist
   

3. Set your $JAVA_HOME to your new location by doing export JAVA_HOME=/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6/Home/ before your $PATH in your ~/.bashrc (or ~/.zschrc) file

4. Prepend $JAVA_HOME to your $PATH by doing this export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/us..........
5. Restart your shell or do source ~/.bashrc