Why is java -version implemented in Java?

[Thomas Stüfe]

Hi,

java -version seems to be called by scripts very frequently to get the java
version. Folks complain about the time that takes.

I always wondered, why is this implemented in java? Which requires the
whole jvm machinery to start up just to print the version information.

VersionProps.java seems not to be very complex; that information could have
been baked into the launcher, or the hotspot.

Or is using 'java -version' as a simple VM test just too convenient?

Thanks, Thomas