Question

I’ve created a desktop link to launch IDEA 12 in Unbutu 12. As soon as I am trying to launch the application using this link I am getting an error message: “cannot start Intellij IDEA. NO JDK found. Please validate either IDEA_JDK, JDK_HOME or JAVA_HOME environmental variable points to valid JDK installation”.

I can start IDEA from the terminal navigating to the install directory and calling ./idea.sh
My configuration:
Ubuntu 12.10
Intellij IDEA 12.0.1
Sun JDK 1.6.0_38
IDEA_JDK, JDK_HOME and JAVA_HOME are defined in /etc/bash.bashrc
JDK_HOME=/opt/jdk1.6.0_38
export JDK_HOME
IDEA_JDK=/opt/jdk1.6.0_38
export IDEA_JDK
JAVA_HOME=/opt/jdk1.6.0_38
export JAVA_HOME
PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin
export PATH

they are properly displayed when running:
echo $JDK_HOME -> /opt/jdk1.6.0_38
echo $IDEA_JDK -> /opt/jdk1.6.0_38

From within IDEA this JDK recognized as a valid JDK under the same specified path.

Desktop linked was created using “Make link” command on the original idea.sh file and copied to the desktop.

Any idea will be appreciated!

Answer 1

The root cause of the problem is the location of IDEA_JDK and JDK_HOME environmental variables. They have to be placed in /etc/profile .

After defining of the environmental vars in etc/profile there are several methods to create a desktop link:

1. As mentioned above by Roman Shevchenko

Recommended way to integrate IDEA is to invoke Configure | Create Desktop Entry from welcome screen (or via Tools | Create Desktop Entry from main menu)

1. Invoke “Make Link” on ides.sh and move “link to idea.sh” to Desktop.