java web start JAVA_HOME

Question

I have an application that starts a Swing gui using java web start. The user has 4 versions of java 1.6 installed (1.6.0.3, 1.6.0.5, 1.6.0.7. 1.6.0.11)

Webstart is selecting java version 1.6.0.11 but JAVA_HOME is set to java version 1.6.0.3. Could this cause any potential problems for webstart?

• rich

Answer 1

Take a look inside the jave web start script. They might have their own JRE or JDK path inside it. The user might be even using a version that is not listed on the list above. This is usually done to easy installation on the end-user.

Hope you find the solution.

Answer 2

In this thread, it is mentioned a Java Web Start application check the version of an available JRE in this path:

C:\Documents and Settings\[User]\Application Data\Sun\Java\Deployment\deployment.properties
(for Windows XP)

C:\Users\[User]\AppData\LocalLow\Sun\Java\Deployment\deployment.properties
(for Windows Vista)

In it, lines like:

deployment.javaws.jre.0.path=C\:\\Program Files\\Java\\jre6\\bin\\javaw.exe
deployment.javaws.jre.0.product=1.6.0_11

are found.

I believe the JWS will start with those settings, not the ones from a JAVA_HOME variable, which should not be a problem.

As detailed here,

The deployment.properties file is used for storing and retrieving deployment configuration properties in the Java Control Panel. They are also used for customizing runtime behavior for both Java Plug-in and Java Web Start.

There is always a User-Level deployment.properties file. Its location, which is non-configurable, is described below. There may also be an (optional) System-Level deployment.properties file.