Overview

VAqua is a Java Swing look and feel that runs on macOS and simulates the appearance and behavior of standard macOS UI components. It is based on the Aqua look and feel that is distributed with the Oracle JDK, rehosted on a new native rendering library and significantly extended. VAqua runs on macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) through macOS 14 (Sonoma) and on JDK 8 and later.

Key features of VAqua:

VAqua includes substantial contributions from the Quaqua look and feel and supports many of the same client properties.

VAqua supports almost all of the client properties supported by the Aqua look and feel (documented in Apple Technical Note TN2196).[1]

Requirements

VAqua runs on macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) through macOS 14 (Sonoma).[2]

VAqua requires JDK 8 or later.

Licensing

VAqua is open source with contributions from multiple sources using multiple licenses. The Aqua look and feel code and original contributions are licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 with a linking exception (commonly known as the Classpath exception). Contributions from the Quaqua look and feel are dual licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 and the Modified BSD License. The TreeTable classes (original author unknown) are licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3.

[1] The exceptions: Size variants on linear progress bars are not supported, because they are not relevant on the supported releases of macOS. The JTableHeader.selectedColumn and JTableHeader.sortDirection client properties are not supported, because VAqua determines the sort indicator from the RowSorter.

[2] The Java for OS X 2017-001 upgrade must be installed on Yosemite. This installer upgrades the Java Runtime Support framework. It also installs the old Apple Java 1.6, which is not used by VAqua and may be deleted if not needed for some other reason.