JAVA_HOME not recognized while starting openliberty server with script scheduled using cron

[terinvarghese]

Describe the bug
We have an automatic restart mechanism that checks if the server is started. If its not running the script will try to start the server using ./server start abcserver. However after upgrade to 21.0.0.9 this script is failing with error message as CWWKE0097W: The JAVA_HOME environment variable is not set.

More details :
The script runs as xyz. JAVA_HOME variable is set in the .bash_profile of the user using the below command export JAVA_HOME=$(alternatives --display java | grep 'family java-21-openjdk' | cut -d' ' -f1 | sed -e 's//bin/java$//')
This is reflected in the echo statement in the script itself.

The issue does not happen if i login to the server and start the server by issuing ./server start abcserver.

The issue also happens when start up command is issued from azure devops pipeline.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install openliberty server on redhat linux
2. Set the JAVA_HOME variable in the .bash_profile using export JAVA_HOME=$(alternatives --display java | grep 'family java-21-openjdk' | cut -d' ' -f1 | sed -e 's//bin/java$//')
3. Create a cron that will trigger a script. The script has the command to start the openliberty server.

Expected behavior
Server should start up normally and error message with code CWWKE0097W should not be displayed.

Diagnostic information:

• OpenLiberty Version: 21.0.0.9

• Affected feature(s) : Server startup

• Java Version: [i.e. full output of java -version]

  • openjdk version "21.0.8" 2025-07-15 LTS
    OpenJDK Runtime Environment (Red_Hat-21.0.8.0.9-1) (build 21.0.8+9-LTS)
    OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (Red_Hat-21.0.8.0.9-1) (build 21.0.8+9-LTS, mixed mode, sharing)

• server.xml configuration (WITHOUT sensitive information like passwords)

cdi-4.0 jakartaee-10.0 jdbc-4.2 jsonb-3.0 jndi-1.0 mdb-4.0 servlet-6.0 pages-3.1 restfulWS-3.1 messagingClient-4.0 xmlWS-4.0

Additional context

1. Happens only when started with script or when openliberty server is started from pipeline. Works fine while starting manually.
2. JAVA_HOME is properly set and the echo statement in script prints the JAVA_HOME value correctly
3. Was observed on 25.0.0.8 version too.

[covener]

What do you do in your cron job or script to ensure the contents of .bash_profile are sourced?
Do you see the environment variable set, in your script, prior to the invocation of the server script?

[terinvarghese]

What do you do in your cron job or script to ensure the contents of .bash_profile are sourced? Do you see the environment variable set, in your script, prior to the invocation of the server script?

Thanks for getting back. I call source ~/.bash_profile in the script to make sure Java_Home is set. The .bash_profile executes export JAVA_HOME=$(alternatives --display java | grep 'family java-21-openjdk' | cut -d' ' -f1 | sed -e 's//bin/java$//') to set the JAVA_HOME.

I don't see JAVA_HOME set when i print env in the script.
The same setup was working fine till 21.0.0.3 and started failing in 21.0.0.8 and 21.0.0.9.

[daveywebster]

Hi, from the command line, manually execute the line JAVA_HOME=$(alternatives .....) and then echo $JAVA_HOME to see what value it is actually being set to.

I suspect that JAVA_HOME isn't being set at all due to a (new?) unexpected result from the piped Linux/Unix commands. Therefore, the Liberty server script is being called without JAVA_HOME being set (which is fine), but subsequently and also, it cannot determine a valid JAVA_HOME (from poking around to see where the java executable may be in the environment and working it out from there).

But start with manually inspecting the JAVA_HOME value. That .bash_profile line doesn't work for me on Fedora.

[jimblye]

Edit the server script and add an echo JAVA_HOME is $JAVA_HOME.
If that shows that JAVA_HOME is not set (which I expect), then there isn't anything we can do in the server script to fix the problem; i.e. the JAVA_HOME value is lost before the script is called.

As a possible workaround, try adding your JAVA_HOME setting to server.env:
JAVA_HOME=$(alternatives --display java | grep 'family java-21-openjdk' | cut -d' ' -f1 | sed -e 's//bin/java$//')

You will also need to add the following line to the server.env, or the command in $() will not be run:
#enable_variable_expansion

That capability was added in 22.0.0.1. See https://openliberty.io/docs/latest/reference/config/server-configuration-overview.html

Let us know if we can close the issue.

[terinvarghese]

Hi, from the command line, manually execute the line JAVA_HOME=$(alternatives .....) and then echo $JAVA_HOME to see what value it is actually being set to.

I suspect that JAVA_HOME isn't being set at all due to a (new?) unexpected result from the piped Linux/Unix commands. Therefore, the Liberty server script is being called without JAVA_HOME being set (which is fine), but subsequently and also, it cannot determine a valid JAVA_HOME (from poking around to see where the java executable may be in the environment and working it out from there).

But start with manually inspecting the JAVA_HOME value. That .bash_profile line doesn't work for me on Fedora.

Thanks for the suggestions. I just logged in to the redhat server and executed JAVA_HOME=$(alternatives .....) and this provided me with the expected output. So the linux command is working fine.

I added more debugs to script. JAVA_HOME is not available in env variables after calling source ~/.bash_profile in the script. Secondly i added export JAVA_HOME=$(alternatives --display java | grep 'family java-21-openjdk' | cut -d' ' -f1 | sed -e 's//bin/java$//') in the script and then the JAVA_HOME value is set correctly and openliberty server starts without any issues.

[terinvarghese]

Edit the server script and add an echo JAVA_HOME is $JAVA_HOME. If that shows that JAVA_HOME is not set (which I expect), then there isn't anything we can do in the server script to fix the problem; i.e. the JAVA_HOME value is lost before the script is called.

As a possible workaround, try adding your JAVA_HOME setting to server.env: JAVA_HOME=$(alternatives --display java | grep 'family java-21-openjdk' | cut -d' ' -f1 | sed -e 's//bin/java$//')

You will also need to add the following line to the server.env, or the command in $() will not be run: #enable_variable_expansion

That capability was added in 22.0.0.1. See https://openliberty.io/docs/latest/reference/config/server-configuration-overview.html

Let us know if we can close the issue.

@jimblye Thanks for the suggestion. I have added the JAVA_HOME=$(alternatives --display java | grep 'family java-21-openjdk' | cut -d' ' -f1 | sed -e 's//bin/java$//') in the server.env and this allows the openliberty server to be started without any other work arounds. A minor inconvenience would be to update this file every time java upgrade is to be done.

Yes the issue can be closed. Thanks @covener @daveywebster @jimblye for looking into the issue reported and guiding me.