Java Virtual Machine Options
Prev | Chapter 2. Starting jEdit | Next

## Java Virtual Machine Options

To enable AntiAliasing in the TextArea, see the section called “The Text Area Pane”.

It is possible to pass command line options to the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). These options can change certain things about how Java runs, such as the maximum heap size, or whether antialiasing is used in certain places.

For operating systems such as Linux where jEdit is started via a shell script, you can easily edit the `jedit` script and place JVM arguments in the correct place. If you are using the `-jar` command line option with the `java` command to run jEdit (which is how the default shell scripts do it), remember that the `-jar` parameter must be the last `java` option, followed immediately by the path to `jedit.jar` and then any jEdit command line options.

On a Windows install that uses `jEdit.exe`, the JVM options are located in a separate file, called `jEdit.l4j.ini`. Create or edit this file in the same directory as `jEdit.exe` and place one JVM option per line.

On Mac OS X, the jEdit.app bundle gets JVM options from a file called `Contents/Info.plist`, which can be edited with a text editor.

There is no complete list of options to `java`, since it can vary from one platform to another. Some of can be found by typing the commands `java -?` or `man java`. Common JVM options that are used with jEdit and work on all platforms are:

Option | Effect
--- | ---
`-Dawt.useSystemAAFontSettings=on` | Antialias the text in AWT components.
`-Dswing.aatext=true` | Antialias the text in Swing components.
`-Djedit.home=/path/to/jedit` | Sets/overrides the java System property `jedit.home` to be the path to the jEdit install. This tells jEdit where to find its site properties, default keymaps, macros, edit modes, and documentation. You can override this setting to create a custom install that is shared by multiple users. See the section called “Site Properties” for more information.
`-mx768m` | Sets maximum heap size to 768 megabytes. Adjust this value depending on your own personal needs / plugins. On at least one platform, `-Xmx768m` works when `-mx768m` does not (or vice-versa).

Prev | Up | Next
Command Line Usage | Home | Chapter 3. jEdit Basics