◀Table of Contents
GraalVM Updater
- Check Available Components
- Install Components
- Install Components Manually
- Install Components from Local Collection
- Uninstall Components
- Rebuild Images
- Replace Components and Files
- Configure Proxies
- Configure Installation
- GraalVM Updater Commands Overview
GraalVM Updater, gu
, is a command-line tool for installing and managing optional GraalVM language runtimes and utilities.
It is available in the GraalVM JDK.
To assist you with the installation, language runtimes and utilities are pre-packaged as JAR files and referenced in the documentation as “components”.
GraalVM Updater can be also used to update your local GraalVM installation to a newer version or upgrade from GraalVM Community Edition to Oracle GraalVM.
Read more in Upgrade GraalVM.
Check Available Components
To check what components are already shipped with your GraalVM installation or what you have already installed, run the list
command:
gu list
To check what components are available for your GraalVM version to install, run the gu available
command:
gu available
Downloading: Component catalog from ...
ComponentId Version Component name
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
espresso <version> Java on Truffle
espresso-llvm <version> Java on Truffle LLVM Java library
js <version> JavaScript
llvm <version> LLVM
llvm-toolchain <version> LLVM.org toolchain
nodejs <version> Graal.nodejs
python <version> Graal.Python
R <version> FastR
ruby <version> TruffleRuby
wasm <version> GraalWasm
Note down the ComponentId
value for the component you would like to install.
GraalVM Updater verifies whether or not the version of a component is appropriate for your current GraalVM installation. A component may require other components as prerequisites for its operation. GraalVM Updater verifies such requirements and will either attempt to download the required dependencies, or abort the installation if the component’s requirements are not met. Components intended for Oracle GraalVM cannot be installed on GraalVM Community Edition.
Generic support for Node.js, R, Ruby, Python, and WebAssembly will work out of the box in most cases. It is recommended to fine-tune system-dependent configurations, following the recommendations in the component post-installation messages.
Install Components
You can install a component by component’s ID using GraalVM Updater: gu install ComponentId
.
- Get a list of components available for your GraalVM version and their descriptive names:
gu available
- Install a component package using the
ComponentId
value. For example,js
:gu install js
The installation starts, displaying progress.
To see more verbose output during the installation, as the download progress bar, print versions, and dependency information, use the -v
(--verbose
) switch.
If a component is installed that depends on another component, GraalVM Updater will search for the appropriate dependency and install it as well. If a required component cannot be found, the installation will fail.
Install Components Manually
You can install a component from a local file, in other words, manually.
-
Download a component in consideration of the operating system, the Java version, and architecture (if applicable) from:
- Oracle GraalVM Downloads for Oracle GraalVM
- GitHub for GraalVM Community Edition
-
Having downloaded the appropriate JAR file, install it with this command:
gu -L install component.jar
The
-L
option, equivalent to--local-file
or--file
, installs a component from a downloaded JAR. However, a component may depend on other components (e.g., Ruby depends on the LLVM toolchain). For example,gu -L install component.jar
will fail if the required components are not yet installed. If all dependencies are downloaded into the same directory, you can run:gu -L install -D
Install Components from Local Collection
Components can be downloaded manually in advance to a local file folder, or to a folder shared on the local network. GraalVM Updater can then use that folder instead of the catalog. Specify the directory to use for the components collection:
gu install -C /path/to/downloads/directory ComponentId
Uninstall Components
Components may be uninstalled from GraalVM when no longer needed.
To uninstall a specific component, use its ComponentId
. Run gu list
to find out the exact ComponentId
.
The command to uninstall the component is:
gu remove ComponentId
If more components end with, for example, ruby
, the installer will print an error message that a component’s full name is required (org.graalvm.ruby
).
Note that the LLVM toolchain component may fail uninstallation if its dependent component(s) remains installed. In this case, remove the dependent component first, or add the -D
option, which would remove dependent components in addition to those explicitly selected:
gu -D remove llvm-toolchain
Rebuild Images
Language runtime components for GraalVM may change. For example:
- polyglot native libraries become out of sync;
- removed languages runtimes may cause the native binary to fail on missing resources or libraries.
To rebuild and refresh the native binaries (language launchers), use the following command:
gu rebuild-images [--verbose] polyglot|libpolyglot|js|llvm|python|ruby|R... [custom native-image args]...
Replace Components and Files
A component may be only installed once. GraalVM Updater refuses to install a component if a component with the same ID is already installed. However, the installed component can be replaced. GraalVM Updater first uninstalls the component, and then installs a new one.
To replace a component, use the -r
option and the -L
(--local-file
or --file
) option to treat parameters as the local filename of a packaged component:
gu install -L -r component.jar
gu install -r ruby
The process is the same as if gu remove
is run first and gu install
next.
GraalVM Updater also refuses to overwrite existing files if the to-be-installed and existing versions differ.
There are cases when refreshing file contents may be needed, such as if they were modified or damaged.
In this case, use the -o
option:
gu install -L -o component.jar
gu install -o ruby
GraalVM Updater will then instruct the user to replace the contained files of a component.
By default, it will not alter anything.
Alternatively, use the -f
(--force
) option, which disables most of the checks and allows the user to install non-matching versions.
Configure Proxies
If GraalVM Updater needs to reach the component catalog, or download a component, it may need to pass through the HTTP/HTTPS proxy, if the network uses one.
On macOS, the proxy settings are automatically obtained from the OS.
On Linux, ensure that the http_proxy
and https_proxy
environment variables are set appropriately before launching the gu
tool.
Refer to the distribution and/or desktop environment documentation for the details.
GraalVM Updater intentionally does not support an option to disable certificate or hostname verification, for security reasons.
A user may try to add a proxy’s certificate to the GraalVM default security trust store.
You can also download a component manually to a directory, and then run gu -L install /path/to/file
to install from a local filesystem (see Install Components Manually).
Working without Internet Access
If your machine cannot access and download the catalog and components from the Internet, GraalVM Updater can install components from a local directory, or a directory on an accessible network share.
You need to prepare a directory, download all components that you want to install and their dependencies (in case they require other GraalVM components to work) into that directory.
Then you can use gu -L install /path/to/file
(where the -L
option instructs to use local files, equivalent to --local-file
or --file
).
Adding the -D
option will instruct GraalVM Updater to look for potential dependencies in the directory next to the installable file.
Additionally, gu -C /path/to/download/dir install component
can be used, with the specified directory contents acting as a catalog of components.
Note that with gu -L
you need to specify the component’s file name, but when using gu -C <dir>
, you need to specify a component ID (ComponentId
):
# Specify file location
gu -LD install /tmp/installables/ruby.jar
# Specify component name
gu -C /tmp/instalables install ruby
Configure Installation
The installation command of GraalVM Updater accepts multiple options and parameters:
shell
gu install [-0CcDfiLMnosruvyxY] param [param ...]
The following options are currently supported:
-0, --dry-run
: dry run, do not change anything-c, --catalog
: treat parameters as component IDs from the GraalVM components catalog. This is the default-C, --custom-catalog <url>
: use a specific catalog URL to locate components-L, --local-file
: treat parameters as local filenames of packaged components-M
: forcegu
to ignore dependencies of installed components-f, --force
: force overwrite, bypass version checks-i, --fail-existing
: fail on an existing component-n, --no-progress
: do not display the downloading progress-o, --overwrite
: overwrite different files-r, --replace
: replace existing components-s, --no-verify-jars
: skip integrity verification of component archives-u, --url
: interpret parameters as URLs of packaged components-v, --verbose
: be verbose. Prints versions and dependency information-x, --ignore
: ignore failures-y, --only-validate
: do not install, just check compatibility and conflicting files-Y, --validate-before
: download, verify, and check file conflicts before any disk change is made
GraalVM Updater Commands Overview
Command-line help is available by running gu
or gu -h
. Run gu <command> -h
to get help specific for the particular command. For example, gu install -h
.
GraalVM Updater usage options:
gu info [-cClLnprstuvV] <param>
: print the information about specific component (from file, URL, or catalog)gu available [-aClvV] <expr>
: list components available in the cataloggu install [--0CcDfiLMnosruvyxY] <param>
: install a component packagegu list [-clv] <expression>
: list installed components or components from cataloggu remove [-0DfMxv] <id>
: uninstall a componentgu upgrade [-cCnLsuxSd] [<ver>] [<cmp>]
: upgrade to the recent GraalVM versiongu rebuild-images
: rebuild the native launchers. Use-h
for detailed usage
GraalVM Updater common options:
-A, --auto-yes
: say YES or ACCEPT to a question-c, --catalog
: treat parameters as component IDs from the catalog of GraalVM components. This is the default-C, --custom-catalog <url>
: use user-supplied catalog at URL-e, --debug
: enable debugging and print stacktraces-E, --no-catalog-errors
: do not stop if at least one catalog is working-h, --help
: print help-L, --local-file, --file
: treat parameters as local filenames of packaged components-N, --non-interactive
: enable non-interactive mode. Fail when input is required--show-version
: print version information and continue-u, --url
: interpret parameters as URLs of packaged components-v, --verbose
: enable verbose output. Print versions and dependency information--version
: print version
Additonal options:
--email <address>
: print an e-mail address used for generating a download token--config <path>
: provide the path to a download token--show-ee-token
: print a saved download token-k, --public-key <path>
: provide path to custom GPG public key for verification-U, --username <username>
: enter a username for login to Oracle component repository
Related Documentation
Check the GraalVM’s components availability and support per platform.