Allow to add a toolchain only - without updating settings.xml, JAVA_HOME and PATH. Only toolchains.xml must be extended. #552
Description
Description:
Allow to add another toolchain only by a subsequent setup-java - only toolchains.xml must be updated with the additional JDK setup and the JDK specific JAVA_HOME_<jdk version> must be set.
No update of settings.xml, no add to PATH, no update of JAVA_HOME.
Justification:
In my scenario I run a first setup-java configuring settings.xml and setting up my JAVA_HOME JDK.
Then I determine a probable additionally required toolchain version from the compile target setting of my Maven projects POM.
If this is requiring a different JDK, then I am running another setup-java for this toolchain.
In this case I want to get the toolchains.xml being extended only and to preserve JAVA_HOME, PATH and settings.xml from my first setup-java.
Currently I am working around this requirement by a step preserving JAVA_HOME, PATH and settings.xml before the setup-java step and restoring those after that step. This is working fine so far.
Another config property for setup-java like e.g. add-toolchain-only would save those efforts!
Are you willing to submit a PR?
Yes - cannot promise a timeline yet.
Activity
IvanZosimov commentedon Nov 7, 2023
Hi, @mhoffrog 👋 Thank you for the feature request, we will take a look and get back to your with our decision.
TWiStErRob commentedon Feb 25, 2024
I would like this too, use case similar to https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/73309 and https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/51280
Pretty much anyone who provides a composite action that runs a jar or JDK commands is affected. I have no idea how others do it, probably delegate the labor to every user 😞.
mhoffrog commentedon Feb 28, 2024
@TWiStErRob I did file PR #553 already and did keep it up to date with recent master - s. #553 (comment).
Unfortunately I do not get any further feedback nor answer on my comments on this PR - its a bit frustrating just getting no reaction for the time being.
@IvanZosimov Maybe you are all pretty busy - would there be a person in the team to assign for review or to put attention to this item?
caquino commentedon Nov 20, 2025
Hi, we are facing a similar issue: our self-hosted runners already have
settings.xmlpre-configured, as we use configurations much more complex than whatactions/setup-javasupports. However, whenoverwrite-settings: false, it also affectstoolchains.xmlmanagement.Ideally, we should have a different setting like
overwrite-toolchains: falseas these configurations have different requirements and controls.mhoffrog commentedon Nov 23, 2025
@priya-kinthali Is there a reason why no one of the team is putting attention to PR #553 for over two years now?
Is there a way to help on getting this merged?
@caquino You could use
GHCICD/setup-java@vHEAD-GHCICD-552in the mean time if you want. I am keeping this in line with this action here as along as PR #553 is not being merged.v-priya-kinthali commentedon Feb 9, 2026
Hello @mhoffrog👋,
Thank you for the feature request and for PR#553, and apologies for the delayed response. We’ll consider exploring the possibility of incorporating these changes in a future update as we gather more community engagement and interest.
Thanks again for your input and patience!
brunoborges commentedon Jun 23, 2026
Routing update: the toolchains-only capability requested here is now tracked in #1047, scoped to build on top of the
set-defaultprimitive added by PR #1017.PR #553 (which referenced this issue) has been closed in favor of that split: #1017 covers the
JAVA_HOME/PATH(don't-make-default) behavior, and #1047 covers the remaining toolchains.xml-only install mode described here. Follow #1047 for progress on this specific need.