FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
Applies as far as tested to ALL java versions (OpenJDK 6-8 and Oracle Java 6-8)

FULL OS VERSION :
Linux 3.13.0-37-generic #64-Ubuntu SMP Mon Sep 22 21:28:38 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Please take this bug seriously - its actually a huge one and might not be disregarded. I think it is also responsible for a lot of subsequent bugs in different kinds of java software but its not always easy to track this down.

- This bug applies to all Java versions I tested so far (OpenJDK 6-8, Oracle Java 6-8).

- The bug occurs when the virtual memory limit (ulimit -v) is set below 30% of the total memory available on the system. On large servers the required minimum memory limit becomes huge(!)

- This bug happens with even the simplest java programs among them are the execution of "java -version" or the Hello World example from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_%28programming_language%29 .

Example (Server has 48 GB memory):
> ulimit -v 16777216
> java -version
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea 2.5.3) (7u71-2.5.3-0ubuntu0.14.04.1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.65-b04, mixed mode)
> java HelloWorld
Hello, World!

> ulimit -v 12000000
> java -version
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Could not reserve enough space for object heap
Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine.
Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Program will exit.
> java HelloWorld
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Could not reserve enough space for object heap
Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine.
Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Program will exit.

Its amazing! Java can't even allocate 12 GB of RAM in the time it needs to put out the out of memory error. I am really curious how it finds the limit so fast to crash. Java can therefore be not executed normally on any machine with a reasonable memory limit for users! This behaviour leads to many subsequent bugs in java-software (e.g. eclipse) that I found on the web.

There are many disregarded replicates of this bug like JDK-8008792 or JDK-8006761.

THE PROBLEM WAS REPRODUCIBLE WITH -Xint FLAG: Yes

THE PROBLEM WAS REPRODUCIBLE WITH -server FLAG: Yes

REGRESSION. Last worked in version 7u72

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Example (Server has 48 GB memory):
> ulimit -v 16777216
> java -version
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea 2.5.3) (7u71-2.5.3-0ubuntu0.14.04.1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.65-b04, mixed mode)

> ulimit -v 12000000
> java -version
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Could not reserve enough space for object heap
Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine.
Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Program will exit.

> java -Xmx2m -version
java version "1.7.0_65"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea 2.5.3) (7u71-2.5.3-0ubuntu0.14.04.1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.65-b04, mixed mode)
--> java -version should run with 2 MB of virtual memory.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
Java VM crashes in even simplest java programs if a virtual memory limit is active.

Expectation: Crash only if the VM memory usage actually EXCEEDS the ulimit.
ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
Could not reserve enough space for object heap
Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine.
Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Program will exit.

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
None required. Works with any Java binary.

E.g. with the wikipedia HelloWorld example:
public class HelloWorld {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello, World!");
    }
}

---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Artificially limiting the java memory usage is a workaround (-Xmx). Yet this should not be necessary for simple programs like HelloWorld or java -version.

Furthermore, not all published Java software allows an easy setting of the Xmx parameter. There must be a better solution than this workaround.