diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index ce4a8c0e9..0af7084f9 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -504,7 +504,13 @@ def createGetBuildSrcDirectDepsTask(outputFileName) {
 rootProject.ext {
   invokeJavaDiffFormatScript = { action ->
     def javaHome = project.findProperty('org.gradle.java.home')
-    println("Running the formatting tool with JDK at $javaHome")
+    def javaBin
+    if (javaHome != null) {
+      javaBin = "$javaHome/bin/java"
+    } else {
+      javaBin = ext.execInBash("which java", rootDir)
+    }
+    println("Running the formatting tool with $javaBin")
     def scriptDir = rootDir.path.endsWith('buildSrc')
             ? "${rootDir}/../java-format"
             : "${rootDir}/java-format"
@@ -515,7 +521,7 @@ rootProject.ext {
     def pythonExe = getPythonExecutable()
 
     return ext.execInBash(
-        "JAVA=${javaHome}/bin/java PYTHON=${pythonExe} ${formatDiffScript} ${action}", "${workingDir}")
+        "JAVA=${javaBin} PYTHON=${pythonExe} ${formatDiffScript} ${action}", "${workingDir}")
   }
 }