[ jEdit-users ] Problem with Mac OS X Java Update

[Elijah R. <ero...@sc...>]

Looking at this list archives, there have been a few messages regarding 
the fact that jEdit no longer launches correctly on Mac OS X 10.5.5 
after the latest Apple Java update. But there have not yet been any 
satisfactory solutions posted. It seems there may be some confusion that 
this is being caused by the Mac OS X plugin, with suggestions to remove 
the plugin. However, this alone does NOT fix the problem. It seems there 
is another issues related to the jEdit application bundle in addition to 
the Mac OS X plugin incompatibility. To make sure the problem has been 
correctly reported, these are my symptoms (on 10.5.5 Intel after the 
Java update):

1) Clicking on the jEdit icon causes it to bounce briefly followed 
quickly by application shutdown with no error messages or warnings of 
any kind. This happens both with 4.3pre15 and 4.2.

2) Looking in the OS X system console reveals this message:

10/1/08 9:58:18 AM [0x0-0x1289288].org.gjt.sp.jedit[82722] 
[JavaAppLauncher Error] CFBundleCopyResourceURL() failed loading 
MRJApp.properties file
10/1/08 9:58:18 AM [0x0-0x1289288].org.gjt.sp.jedit[82722] 
[JavaAppLauncher Error] CFBundleCopyResourceURL() failed while getting 
Resource/Java directory
10/1/08 9:58:18 AM [0x0-0x1289288].org.gjt.sp.jedit[82722] [LaunchRunner 
Error] No main class specified
10/1/08 9:58:18 AM [0x0-0x1289288].org.gjt.sp.jedit[82722] 
[JavaAppLauncher Error] CallStaticVoidMethod() threw an exception
10/1/08 9:58:18 AM [0x0-0x1289288].org.gjt.sp.jedit[82722] Exception in 
thread "main" 
10/1/08 9:58:18 AM [0x0-0x1289288].org.gjt.sp.jedit[82722] 
java.lang.NullPointerException
10/1/08 9:58:18 AM [0x0-0x1289288].org.gjt.sp.jedit[82722]  at 
apple.launcher.LaunchRunner.run(LaunchRunner.java:112)
10/1/08 9:58:18 AM [0x0-0x1289288].org.gjt.sp.jedit[82722]  at 
apple.launcher.LaunchRunner.callMain(LaunchRunner.java:50)
10/1/08 9:58:18 AM [0x0-0x1289288].org.gjt.sp.jedit[82722]  at 
apple.launcher.JavaApplicationLauncher.main(JavaApplicationLauncher.java:61) 

10/1/08 9:58:18 AM com.apple.launchd[2526] 
([0x0-0x1289288].org.gjt.sp.jedit[82722]) Exited with exit code: 1

3) Removing the jEdit.app/Contents/Resources/Java/jars/MacOS.jar file 
has no effect.

4) Executing the file jEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/jedit manually from a 
terminal gives the same error message as appears in the console when 
starting jEdit by clicking on the application.

5) Starting jEdit from the jar file manually using the command "java 
-jar jEdit.app/Contents/Resources/Java/jedit.jar" does start jEdit. 
Albeit without the proper application icon and with a warning about the 
MacOS.jar plugin.

6) Switching the Java VM used by OS X in the Java Preferences does work 
IF you ALSO remove the MacOS.jar file. Put any VM other than J2SE 5.0 
32-bit first in the list and jEdit will correctly launch. Unfortunately 
J2SE 5.0 32-bit is the default.

 From my perspective it look like Apple has changed the way Java 
application are started and something that the jEdit application bundle 
is using no longer works properly. I have no experience bundling Java 
application bundles for OS X so I can't diagnose the problem any further.

Elijah Roberts