Make Mac Minecraft work on Oracle Java

My son likes to play Minecraft.  I like to use Oracle Java 8 instead of the decrepit Apple Java (6) that Apple insists on.  Can't Minecraft use Oracle Java 8?

It can but it took me 6 months to figure out how to do it right.  You can modify the Minecraft Mac application so it will work on whatever is installed, either Oracle Java 8 or Apple Java 6.  You can even do it without starting a Terminal (but I'll tell you how to do it in Terminal, too).

On MacOS X Yosemite:

1.  Make a copy of your Minecraft application for backup.

2.  Start Safari and go to this page:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tofi86/universalJavaApplicationStub/master/src/universalJavaApplicationStub

This is a bash script from https://github.com/tofi86/universalJavaApplicationStub GitHub project.

3.  Choose the "File" menu, then select the "Save As..." menu item.  Select the "Page Source" item in the "Format" dropdown list.  Now, save it using the default name (i.e. universalJavaApplicationStub) on your Desktop.

4.  Go to the Applications folder, right click on the Minecraft application and select "Show Package Contents".  A Finder window will open.  Double-click on the Contents folder to open it.  Start Finder and choose the "Go" menu, then select the "Go to Folder..." menu item.  Type "/Applications/Minecraft.app/Contents" and press the "Go" button.  A Finder window will open.

5.  Double-click on the MacOS folder.  If it is a Java application, you will probably see a single file named JavaApplicationStub in the MacOS folder.

6.  Drag the universalJavaApplicationStub into the MacOS folder.  Now, there are two files in there.

7.  Right click on universalJavaApplicationStub and select the "Get Info" menu item.  Open the "Name & Extensions" item.

8.  If the "Hide extension" checkbox is enabled and checked, uncheck it.

9.  In the text box, delete the extension (probably ".txt") and close the "Get Info" box.

10.  If you get "Are you sure you want to remove the extension ".txt"?" prompt, press the "Remove" button.  (The icon for universalJavaApplicationStub will change to a green CRT terminal icon with the text, "exec", on it.)  Leave the "MacOS" Finder window open.

11.  Oh, I lied.  You do have to use Terminal.  Open the Applications folder, open the Utilities and run Terminal application.

12.  Paste the following into Terminal and press the "Return" key to execute it:

chmod ugo+x /Applications/Minecraft.app/Contents/MacOS/universalJavaApplicationStub

This command adds eXecute permissions to the file for User, Group and Other.

If you don't get an error, it probably worked.  If you get an error, you can give up on this process and, don't worry, the Minecraft application is undamaged.  In either case, close the Terminal.

13.  Press the back button on the original Finder window to return to the Contents folder.

14.  Right click on the Info.plist file.  Select the "Open With" menu, then choose the "Other..." menu item.  Scroll down and select the "TextEdit" application.  The TextEdit application should start.

15.  Edit and save the file:

A.  Insert "universal" in front of "JavaApplicationStub" so it reads <string>universal JavaApplicationStub</string>.

B.  Insert an "X" at <key>Java</key> to make <key>JavaX</key>.

16.  Go to the Applications folder and run Minecraft.  It should work.  You're done.

If you want to perform this same process entirely in Terminal, start a Terminal and do this:

$ cp -r /Applications/Minecraft.app /Applications/Minecraft\ copy.app
$ cd /Applications/Minecraft.app/Contents
$ curl "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tofi86/universalJavaApplicationStub/master/src/universalJavaApplicationStub" -o "MacOS/universalJavaApplicationStub"
$ chmod ugo+x MacOS/universalJavaApplicationStub
$ vi Info.plist
Press i to insert text
- <string>JavaApplicationStub</string>
+ <string>universalJavaApplicationStub</string>
- <key>Java</key>
+ <key>JavaX</key>
Press Esc, then type ZZ which will save

This technique should work for any Mac Java application, as long as you go to the correct .app folder.

Don't forget that you have to a backslash (\) before any spaces in the name when using Terminal so Minecraft copy.app becomes Minecraft\ copy.app.

If you need to troubleshoot, try running universalJavaApplicationStub from the Terminal and see if it launches Minecraft or gives you error messages.  If that works, try running the open command so open /Applications/Minecraft.app and see if that launches Minecraft or gives you error messages.  The error messages can be somewhat cryptic but, with Google, perhaps you can figure out what the issue is.

References:
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/88110/make-minecraft-or-java-preferences-app-run-on-java-7
http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/178178/making-minecraft-run-with-java-8-on-os-x-10-10
http://www.cgwerks.com/make-minecraft-work-mac-osx-yosemite-latest-java-8/
https://gist.github.com/pudquick/7518753
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/support/unmodified-minecraft-client/1858141-minecraft-x64-for-mac-with-java-7
https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MCL-1049
http://mosx.tumblr.com/post/64402950499/os-x-tip-execute-java-apps-like-minecraft-or
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14806709/application-is-using-java-6-from-apple-instead-of-java-7-from-oracle-on-mac-os-x
http://superuser.com/questions/490425/how-do-i-switch-between-java-7-and-java-6-on-os-x-10-8-2