Apple Java for OS X 10.6 Update 16 delivers improved security, reliability, and compatibility by updating Java SE 6. Apple Java for OS X 10.6 is an Apple vetted Java environment, designed to be as highly integrated as possible within its own operating system. Apple Java for OS X 10.6 has been created to mix OS X’s advanced technologies and Java’s adaptability and omnipresence on almost all software platforms out there. This is the latest version of Java for OS X, which has been updated to ensure your Mac is secure from the vulnerabilities. It also configures the Java web plugin to disable the automatic execution of Java applets.
Apple has released Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3, which updates Java SE 6 to version 1.6.0_22. The new release is primarily aimed at resolving security issues; among them: “Multiple vulnerabilities exist in Java 1.6.0_20, the most serious of which may allow an untrusted Java applet to execute arbitrary code outside the Java sandbox.
As others have stated, Oracle is only supporting Java 7 on Mac OS X 10.7 and above. The openjdk-osx-build project was creating OpenJDK 7 builds for OS X 10.6, but has recently shuttered the operation.
The build and package scripts were moved to the OBuildFactory project. This recent OBuildFactory post indicates there will be no further efforts to build OpenJDK 7 on OS X 10.6: It looks like rolling your own OpenJDK 7 got a lot harder. If you need Java 7, upgrading to OS X 10.8 is probably the easiest route (upgrade from the Mac App Store costs $19.99) - but your desktop will start looking and behaving more like a phone. If you have / will install Xcode 3.2.6 or 4.2 (4.2 requires a paid account or a little illegality, and I know it's a massive download), download the java 7 installer, extract the PKG from the DMG file, and open it in PackageMaker.
![Java Java](http://www.cafeaulait.org/images/Java%20for%20Mac%20OS%20X%2010.6%20Update%201.png)
![Java For Mac Os X Version 10.6 Java For Mac Os X Version 10.6](http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/java-for-osx-lion.jpg)
Remove the version requirement string and rebuild the PKG file. It will now let you install Java 7! Source: I did this on my 2006 Core 2 Duo iMac running Snow Leopard.
Edit: the one thing that does not appear to work on snow leopard is the AWT libraries. There is a customized version of openJDK 7 that supposedly fixes the problem, but Java requires a truly herculean effort for me to compile - it's not very nice about following the./configure && make && make install structure that most programs use. The original place to get openJDK 7 for Snow Leopard was here: You used to be able to get JDK DMG's, but which the author decided for some reason to remove them (possibly they were out of date). His page now links here: and this commit seems to fix the problems with AWT.