System level location of deployment.config

Question

According to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/deployment/deployment-guide/properties.html, the system level deployment.config can be found in one of two locations on windows:
(1) <Windows Directory>\Sun\Java\Deployment\deployment.config
(2) ${deployment.java.home}\lib\deployment.config
The documentation is a bit sketchy as to what determines which location it checks. From my testing, it seems that if you have a JDK installed, it looks for it in (1). If you only have a JRE installed, it looks for it in (2). Can someone confirm this? Secondly, why does WebStart via a JDK install look in one location while WebStart via a JRE look in another? Why can't it simply search in one location?

Answer 1

JRE/JDK makes no difference. Java Web Start is in the JRE, so you actually need a JRE to run javaws.
Webstart will always look first in (1) , and if no deployment.config is found, it will look in the lib directory of the jre that javaws is in. (2)
However, updating a JRE will (until after 6u4) put the new JRE in a new directory, so you would loose any customization done to the old JRE (such as putting a deployment.config in in) so (1) is preferred, unless you want the config to only apply to a specific update version.
/Andy