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SPECIFICTION
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Jabba vs SDKMAN!

Jabba

github.com

SDKMAN!

sdkman.io

Side by side

FigureJabbaSDKMAN!
Price fromFree—
Free planYes—
Free trial——
Open source——
WindowsYesYes
macOSYesYes
LinuxYesYes
API—Yes
Plans published10
Spec score · Runtime Version Managers8.5 (#3)7.2 (#22)
Spec score · Development Environment Managers8.5 (#8)7.1 (#45)
PurposeJabba is a Java version manager inspired by nvm and written in Go.SDKMAN! manages multiple Software Development Kits on Unix systems.
Version switchingUsers can install JDKs, switch among installed versions, set a default version, and select a project version through a .jabbarc file.Users can install, uninstall, list, use, default, upgrade and inspect SDK versions from the CLI.

Plans

Jabba

  • JabbaFree

Jabba pricing →

SDKMAN!

No plans published.

SDKMAN! pricing →

In their own words

Jabba

Jabba is a free Java version manager written in Go for installing and switching among JDK versions on macOS, Linux and Windows. Its JDK index, powered by DiscoAPI, lists versions for the user's operating system and architecture. The README names distributions including Oracle, Adopt OpenJDK, Zulu, IBM SDK, GraalVM, OpenJDK, Liberica and Amazon Corretto. Users can list remote JDKs, filter versions with semantic version ranges, install versions and switch among those installed. A `.jabbarc` file can specify a project's JDK, while a default alias can select the version used in new terminals. Jabba can link to a system JDK and coexist with an existing Java installation. The README documents shell integration for bash, zsh and fish, plus installation through Homebrew, shell scripts, PowerShell, Scoop or Docker. Custom JDK downloads are also supported. Jabba does not switch Java globally on its own; the README gives manual platform-specific snippets instead. The repository describes Jabba as a community fork that is a work in progress and warns that some README instructions may be outdated. It is licensed under Apache-2.0.

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SDKMAN!

SDKMAN! is a command-line interface and API for managing Software Development Kits in the JVM ecosystem. It supports languages and tools including Java, Scala, Kotlin, Groovy, Ant, Gradle, Grails, Maven, SBT, Spark, Spring Boot, and Vert.x. From the CLI, users can install, uninstall, list, inspect, switch, upgrade, and set default SDK versions. A project can record its versions in an .sdkmanrc file, with automatic switching available when entering its directory. Java distributions are obtained through the Foojay DISCO API. SDKMAN! works on macOS and Linux; Windows use requires WSL or MSYS with MinGW, since it does not run natively there. Cygwin is no longer supported. The installer requires curl, zip, and unzip, and works with Bash and ZSH. Its CI mode answers prompts, disables colored output, and turns off self-updates. SDKMAN! is free, open source, and Apache 2.0 licensed. Security updates are provided only for the latest released CLI version. The project says Go, Rust, Node.js, Python, and Ruby toolchains are outside its intended scope.

Visit sdkman.io