[quote]I believe you’d need to start up a second VM from inside the first with a the appropriate settings.
[/quote]
Yes, indeed.
Something like…[quote]
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(“java -Xmx128M -jar Jarfilename.jar -secondstart”);
[/quote]
… works (by querying the param I see if it’s already the second invocation with lots of RAM). Although it looks a little bit like overkill to me.
Is there a nice way to find out the name of the JAR from within which “I” am running?
Being at that, is it possible to see if “I” am being called from outside a JAR, ie from class files lying inside a “normal” folder?
[quote]However, if you know for sure you’re running from the shell/OS then you could just add a script file .bat/.sh whatever which sets the appropriate settings.
[/quote]
Yes, I’m aware of this but tried to avoid if possible (it is, as I see now).
[quote]Or you could consider this, which I find quite nice:
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I’m happy not to use Exes. 
Thanks for your hints.