The command "idea --version" has no output
Answered
It seems that this is not just the IntelliJ IDEA, but many JetBrains IDEs, and I have tried WebStorm and PyCharm.
Running '.\idea64.exe --version' in the installation directory of IDEA (bin) will not produce any output, you need to run '.\idea.bat --version' to get the version number of IDEA. And I seem to get a caveat:
[0.016s][warning][cds] Archived non-system classes are disabled because the java.system.class.loader property is specified (value = "com.intellij.util.lang.PathClassLoader"). To use archived non-system classes, this property must not be set
This certainly doesn't affect my use. I'm just curious if this is the design, or is it a bug that no one has noticed?
:) =w
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Hello Mangofanfanw
Certainly, it's by design. The
idea64.exeis the GUI launcher. It doesn’t handle--version, that's why you can't see any output.The supported CLI entry points are the scripts (
idea.bat,webstorm.bat,pycharm.bat, etc.), and those are the ones intended to be used for--version,inspect,warmup, and so on. That’s why.\idea.bat --versionworks while.\idea64.exe --versionis silent.About the CDS warning it is printed by the JVM itself, not by IntelliJ, and it's a benign JVM-level warning that’s known and safe to ignore; it’s more of a cosmetic detail than an IDE bug.
I hope this helps clarify things.
Have a great day!
This is by design, not a bug. The .exe is meant for GUI launching, not CLI inspection. JetBrains documentation even implies using the .bat or toolbox scripts for terminal commands.
It’s a classic case of "it’s not a bug, it’s a feature"—though from a user perspective, it certainly feels like a hidden quirk. You’ve touched on how JetBrains manages the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) and why their executables behave differently than standard command-line tools.
sunpass