Java WebStart application fails to load when cache is disabled.

Question

We have a problem with our application when using the latest version of Java (Update 20). We a lanching a jnlp file using Java WebStart.
Until to the early release Update 21 b05, we had the following exception:
java.lang.NullPointerException
     at java.util.jar.JarVerifier.mapSignersToCodeSource(Unknown Source)
     at java.util.jar.JarVerifier.mapSignersToCodeSources(Unknown Source)
     at java.util.jar.JarVerifier.getCodeSources(Unknown Source)...
Which was fixed with the following bug resolution: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6943522
Now with that latest version that initial problem got resolved, but a new one appeared. The problem described below, only appears when the "Java Cache"
of the control panel is disabled. We tested all the following scenarios:
- Cached data cleaned / Cache enabled: Works
- Cached data / Cache enabled: Works
- Cached data cleaned / Cache disabled -> Exception
- Cached data / Cache disabled -> Exception
* We have already check the signature of the resource manually and it is correctly signed.
* We have checked the jnlp with JaNeLA, and it's good.
* No matter what we change, every time Java Cache is disabled, we get the exception.
The exception thrown is the following:
com.sun.deploy.net.JARSigningException: Found unsigned entry in resource: http://server/resource.jar
     at com.sun.javaws.security.SigningInfo.getCommonCodeSignersForJar(SigningInfo.java:405)
     at com.sun.javaws.security.SigningInfo.check(SigningInfo.java:291)
     at com.sun.javaws.LaunchDownload.checkSignedResourcesHelper(LaunchDownload.java:1738)
     at com.sun.javaws.LaunchDownload.checkSignedResources(LaunchDownload.java:1508)
     at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.prepareResources(Launcher.java:1231)
     at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.prepareAllResources(Launcher.java:620)
     at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.prepareToLaunch(Launcher.java:326)
     at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.prepareToLaunch(Launcher.java:198)
     at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:115)
     at com.sun.javaws.Main.launchApp(Main.java:417)
     at com.sun.javaws.Main.continueInSecureThread(Main.java:249)
     at com.sun.javaws.Main$1.run(Main.java:111)
     at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
Can someone give any light on this issue?
For me it look very clearly like another bug related the first fix, but I wanted to pop the question here first.
For now we are recommending our customers, to keep with Java Update 18 (Last working version),
but it's becoming a bigger issue, since more and more customers are trying to update to the latest version.
Regards.

Answer 1

lizaro wrote:
..Can someone give any light on this issue?
For me it look very clearly like another bug related the first fix, but I wanted to pop the question here first.Normally I would ask a lot of questions and demand more evidence before thinking of agreeing to such an assessment, but you seem to have put in the research needed to cover most of that.
There were some recent (last month or three) reports of broken cache management, but AFAIR they were supposed to be fixed by update _20. Try update _21, and if that does not resolve the issue, raise a bug report with Sun.