Teams / VStar Software Development / Java WebStart problem with VStar 2.7?
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Folks: I've had some time - ironically during a trip to a friend's burial - to play around with VStar like I've not been able to before. Insofar as I can tell, we have been concentrating on its performance in MacOS X and Windows. Except for Doug's Ubuntu installation that I saw during the Annual Meeting workshop, I've not seen another Linux installation, although doubtless there are others. So, I was working on this on Ubutu 10.10 Linux, both in 32 bit and 64 bit mode. As I write here, I'm not sure where the plugin directories are in this environment, but I can say that both my Ubuntu 10.10 machines - one of which I don't think ever ran VStar - experienced the same behavior where it downloaded but did not start from the web. I'm just adding this as another data point. I would not be surprised if, of course, the cause is the same as we've seen on other platforms. ---- Doc Kinne
Hi Doc Sorry to hear about your friend. I test on Ubuntu Linux from time to time, also on OpenSolaris. I was running via WebStart on Friday. I have not yet performed the experiment I suggested to Doug under Ubuntu. There are two reasons I can think of why VStar would not have run: 1. The version of Java on your machine was < 1.6 or perhaps the pre-installed gcj version of Java. 2. You had unsigned jars in your ~/vstar_plugins and/or ~vstar_plugin_libs. Regards, David
Hi Doc et al, Just to be clear - the problem I had was not a Webstart problem. I had checked out VStar and run it from that computer. Indeed, I had tried to set it all up from scratch - including installing Java and the plugins in 20-30 minutes. There is something in my configuration on that laptop only that is a problem. I am running VStar on two other Ubunbtu 10.04 systems without any difficulty - including the SuperWASP plugin. Cheers, Doug
Hi Doug Agreed. The problem we saw at the AAVSO meeting (SuperWASP plugin error at data load time) does not originate with the problem that kicked off this thread. You would have been running VStar locally, right? As a matter of interest, which local run mechanism listed in the top-level ReadMe.txt do you choose to run VStar with? With respect to WebStart however, could I ask you to perform a simple experiment? 1. Choose an Ubuntu Linux machine with content in ~/vstar_plugins (and ~/vstar_plugin_libs), i.e. SuperWASP. 2. Go to the "Download VStar Now" button on the VStar team page. I predict that VStar will not load via WebStart, because of the presence of unsigned jars in the above directories. If you get a chance, can you do this and let me know the result? Thanks. Regards, David
Hi David, I did as suggested. The Oracle splash screen becomes visible briefly and then ... nothing. So you are correct that the VStar WebStart fails when~/vstar_plugins and ~/vstar_plugin_libs have content. Cheers, Doug
Thanks for the independent verification Doug.
After Sara's VStar talk at the Boston AAVSO meeting today (to which I was Skyped in), and talking with Chris Watson online, I realised what's going on. When I removed plug-in jar files from my vstar_plugins and vstar_plugin_libs directories (in my home directory), WebStart started working again. What's going on is that WebStarted jar files in VStar undergo a signing process for authentication purposes. However, the plugin files are not similarly signed. What this means is that as things stand, you cannot currently have VStar plugins and WebStart VStar. They would also have to be signed. The reason why plug-ins have been working for me, Sara, and others, is because often we start VStar in standalone mode where jars are not signed. A proper solution for this will require some thought. Something that was suggested by Doc Kinne, Chris Watson and othersat the meetingwas the idea of a VStar plug-in repository. A related discovery feature or "Install Plugins" menu item would also make sense, and may also help to address this problem. Regards, David
I've created this SourceForge tracker to deal with this issue. If you have other suggestions, feel free to make them.
There have been updates to the tracker that you may want to look at. I don't believe it's a signing problem now, but a class loading problem. Investigating... Regards, David