How to set JAVA_HOME path on Ubuntu?

add JAVA_HOME to the file:

/etc/environment

for it to be available to the entire system (you would need to restart Ubuntu though)

I normally set paths in

~/.bashrc

However for Java, I followed instructions at https://askubuntu.com/questions/55848/how-do-i-install-oracle-java-jdk-7

and it was sufficient for me.

you can also define multiple java_home's and have only one of them active (rest commented).

suppose in your bashrc file, you have

export JAVA_HOME=......jdk1.7

#export JAVA_HOME=......jdk1.8

notice 1.8 is commented. Once you do

source ~/.bashrc

jdk1.7 will be in path.

you can switch them fairly easily this way. There are other more permanent solutions too. The link I posted has that info.