diff --git a/dist/index.js b/dist/index.js
index 2634606..d77e3be 100644
--- a/dist/index.js
+++ b/dist/index.js
@@ -4742,6 +4742,12 @@ function getJava(version, arch, jdkFile, javaPackage) {
             toolPath = yield tc.cacheDir(jdkDir, javaPackage, getCacheVersionString(version), arch);
         }
         let extendedJavaHome = 'JAVA_HOME_' + version + '_' + arch;
+        core.exportVariable(extendedJavaHome, toolPath); //TODO: remove for v2
+        // For portability reasons environment variables should only consist of
+        // uppercase letters, digits, and the underscore. Therefore we convert
+        // the extendedJavaHome variable to upper case and replace '.' symbols and
+        // any other non-alphanumeric characters with an underscore.
+        extendedJavaHome = extendedJavaHome.toUpperCase().replace(/[^0-9A-Z_]/g, '_');
         core.exportVariable('JAVA_HOME', toolPath);
         core.exportVariable(extendedJavaHome, toolPath);
         core.addPath(path.join(toolPath, 'bin'));
diff --git a/src/installer.ts b/src/installer.ts
index 487db6f..ba70611 100644
--- a/src/installer.ts
+++ b/src/installer.ts
@@ -87,6 +87,12 @@ export async function getJava(
   }
 
   let extendedJavaHome = 'JAVA_HOME_' + version + '_' + arch;
+  core.exportVariable(extendedJavaHome, toolPath); //TODO: remove for v2
+  // For portability reasons environment variables should only consist of
+  // uppercase letters, digits, and the underscore. Therefore we convert
+  // the extendedJavaHome variable to upper case and replace '.' symbols and
+  // any other non-alphanumeric characters with an underscore.
+  extendedJavaHome = extendedJavaHome.toUpperCase().replace(/[^0-9A-Z_]/g, '_');
   core.exportVariable('JAVA_HOME', toolPath);
   core.exportVariable(extendedJavaHome, toolPath);
   core.addPath(path.join(toolPath, 'bin'));