javaws script is broken for some invocations

[Paul Smith]

Binary package hint: openjdk-6-jre

I'm running on an up-to-date Hardy Heron Beta release:

$ dpkg -l openjdk\*
ii openjdk-6-jre 6b08-0ubuntu1 OpenJDK Java runtime
ii openjdk-6-jre-headless 6b08-0ubuntu1 OpenJDK Java runtime (headless)
ii openjdk-6-jre-lib 6b08-0ubuntu1 OpenJDK Java runtime (architecture independent libraries)

I try to open a java-based console for embedded hardware. I click the button in FireFox and I get a query as to what application I want to use to open it (the filename is javaRKVM.jnlp) The default (and only) option in FireFox is "OpenJDK Java Web Start (default)".

I say OK.

Nothing happens.

Looking at my ~/.xsession-errors file I see this line:

exec: 1: ../jre/bin/javaws.real: not found

Aha! Says I. But, if I run /usr/bin/javaws it works. So I edited that shell script and forced it to print its invocation information and run with shell debugging (-x). Now when I do this I see this in my ~/.xsession-errors file:

+ : /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/bin/javaws -viewer /tmp/javaRKVM-4.jnlp
+ prog=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/bin/javaws
+ [ -h /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/bin/javaws ]
+ readlink /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/bin/javaws
+ prog=../jre/bin/javaws
+ [ -h ../jre/bin/javaws ]
+ [ 2 -eq 0 ]
+ dirname ../jre/bin/javaws
+ exec ../jre/bin/javaws.real -viewer /tmp/javaRKVM-4.jnlp
exec: 1: ../jre/bin/javaws.real: not found

But, if I run this as /usr/bin/javaws I get this:

+ : /usr/bin/javaws
+ prog=/usr/bin/javaws
+ [ -h /usr/bin/javaws ]
+ readlink /usr/bin/javaws
+ prog=/etc/alternatives/javaws
+ [ -h /etc/alternatives/javaws ]
+ readlink /etc/alternatives/javaws
+ prog=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/javaws
+ [ -h /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/javaws ]
+ [ 0 -eq 0 ]
+ set -- -viewer
+ dirname /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/javaws
+ exec /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/javaws.real -viewer

It appears that this loop to resolve symbolic links cannot handle relative pathnames, like this:

$ ls -al /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/bin/javaws
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 Mar 31 17:29 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/bin/javaws -> ../jre/bin/javaws

So either the script needs to be rewritten to be smarter, or the FireFox plugin needs to run /usr/bin/javaws instead of /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/bin/javaws. Actually, the right answer is the former.

[Paul Smith (psmith-gnu)]

Here's a patch that fixes the problem.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package openjdk-6 - 6b08-0ubuntu4

---------------
openjdk-6 (6b08-0ubuntu4) hardy; urgency=low

  * Update IcedTea build infrastructure.
    - Fix build failure on ia64.
  * javaws-wrapper.sh: Use readlink --canonicalize. LP: #211515.

 -- Matthias Klose <email address hidden> Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:56:08 +0000