Make $JAVA_HOME easily changable in Ubuntu

Try these steps.

--We are going to edit "etc\profile". The environment variables are to be input at the bottom of the file. Since Ubuntu does not give access to root folder, we will have to use a few commands in the terminal

Step1: Start Terminal. Type in command: gksudo gedit /etc/profile

Step2: The profile text file will open. Enter the environment variables at the bottom of the page........... Eg: export JAVA_HOME=/home/alex/jdk1.6.0_22/bin/java

export PATH=/home/alex/jdk1.6.0_22/bin:$PATH

step3: save and close the file. Check if the environment variables are set by using echo command........ Eg echo $PATH

Put the environment variables into the global /etc/environment file:

...
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun
...

Execute "source /etc/environment" in every shell where you want the variables to be updated:

$ source /etc/environment

Check that it works:

$ echo $JAVA_HOME
$ /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun

Great, no logout needed.

If you want to set JAVA_HOME environment variable in only the terminal, set it in ~/.bashrc file.

This will probably solve your problem: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EnvironmentVariables

Session-wide environment variables

In order to set environment variables in a way that affects a particular user's environment, one should not place commands to set their values in particular shell script files in the user's home directory, but use:

~/.pam_environment - This file is specifically meant for setting a user's environment. It is not a script file, but rather consists of assignment expressions, one per line.

Not recommended:

~/.profile - This is probably the best file for placing environment variable assignments in, since it gets executed automatically by the DisplayManager during the startup process desktop session as well as by the login shell when one logs-in from the textual console.