Jre-6u22 and greater breaks java webstart 1.4.2_11 application

Question

I have a java web start application that actually worked in jre-6u18, but but definitely breaks with the jre-6u24 and I suspect any other jre greater than jre-6u21. The reason I suspect this is because a buddy of mine also experienced a similar issue and determined the breakage for him was between jre-6u21 and jre6-u22. I have tested in pristine environments and found breakage between jre-6u18 and jre-6u24 only because I do not presently have any of the versions in between to test.
Here are the details:
The JNLP file is configured to autodownload <j2se version="1.4.2_11*" href="http://java.sun.com/products/autodl/j2se" initial-heap-size="64m" max-heap-size="256m"/>
The launch attempt successfully downloads and installs this JRE in both 6u21 and 6u24.
It has been re-written from spec="1.0" to spec="1.5" and when I try to run it directly with the 1.4.2/javaws/javaws.exe it breaks with error stating that it is incompatible with spec="1.5" and to use a more up to date JVM.
When launched with jre-6u18 it installed the j2re1.4.2 and continued to fail to launch the application initially, but succeeded to launch it on a second attempt.
When launched with jre-6u24 it installed the j2re1.4.2 and ultimately failed on any consecutive attempt as well as the initial attempt usually with the following console output:
Java Web Start 1.6.0_24
Using JRE version 1.4.2_11-b06 Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM
User home directory = C:\Documents and Settings\smithj
c: clear console window
f: finalize objects on finalization queue
g: garbage collect
h: display this help message
m: print memory usage
o: trigger logging
p: reload proxy configuration
q: hide console
r: reload policy configuration
s: dump system and deployment properties
t: dump thread list
v: dump thread stack
0-5: set trace level to <n>
FATAL 2011-04-08 14:42:03,441 [javawsApplicationMain] (JavaApp.java:1086) - Error starting JavaApp
java.util.MissingResourceException: Can't find bundle for base name my.co.pkg.myprops, locale en_US
     at java.util.ResourceBundle.throwMissingResourceException(Unknown Source)
     at java.util.ResourceBundle.getBundleImpl(Unknown Source)
     at java.util.ResourceBundle.getBundle(Unknown Source)
I compared the differences between the properties of the shortcuts that got created for the successful one and the unsuccessful one and they seem identical except for a minor cache difference as follows:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\javaws.exe -localfile "C:\Documents and Settings\smithj\Application Data\Sun\Java\Deployment\cache\6.0\39\3a08ece7-75d85e43"
C:\WINDOWS\system32\javaws.exe -localfile "C:\Documents and Settings\smithj\Application Data\Sun\Java\Deployment\cache\6.0\39\3a08ece7-5657ebe9"
Has anybody else experienced this type of breakage? Does anybody else have an answer, solution, or suggestion other than "upgrade your 1.4.2 app"?
thanks in advance.

Answer 1

851004 wrote:
..It has been re-written from spec="1.0" to spec="1.5" ..Who changed it, and why?
..Does anybody else have an answer, solution, or suggestion ..?I suggest:
<ul>
<li>Change the spec. number back to something that 1.4 JWS claims to understand (i.e. "1.0").
<li>Checking the launch file using JaNeLA
</ul>
Edited by: Andrew Thompson on Apr 9, 2011 7:54 AM