298900 - Plugin Finder Service downloads wrong version of Java Plugin.

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(addons.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Plugins, defect)

Description

[Alex Tanner]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511 Firefox/1.0.4
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511 Firefox/1.0.4

When a site needs the Java plugin, the Plugin Finder Service looks for it and
tries to install it, then downloads it. The Java Plugin seems to install
correctly, but Mozilla thinks it is missing even after it has been installed
correctly (by checking the box 'Mozilla / Netscape' when asked which browsers
you would like  to register the plugin with during installation of the plugin).
Moreover, Firefox attempts to download version 5.0 Update 1 of the plugin, but
the plugin on the Java website (http://www.java.com -> Java Software Download ->
Windows (XPI) ) is of version 5.0 Update 4 and packaged in an XPI file (standard
Mozilla plugin format). What has gone wrong here?


Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Go to a website that needs the Java plugin.
2. When the Plugin Finder bar appears, click 'Install Missing Plugins...'
3. On the next page, select 'Java Runtime Environment' and proceed with
installation of the plugin.

Actual Results:  
Plugin finder bar appeared, stating 'additional plugins are needed to view the
media on this page', even after the plugin was installed correctly (see above).


Expected Results:  
The Java Runtime Environment should have activated and loaded Java applets on
the page.

Comment 1

[Kevin Brosnan]

It is important that umo points to v 1.5.04 or later as this version fixes a
crash See http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6255782 and Bug
275783 Java causes ghost Firefox process to remain after closing 

Comment 2

[Alex Tanner]

(In reply to comment #1)
> It is important that umo points to v 1.5.04 or later as this version fixes a
> crash See http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6255782 and Bug
> 275783 Java causes ghost Firefox process to remain after closing 

Yes, but Java 5 Update 1 still failed to load after restarting the computer
(update 4 should fix this, I suppose).

Comment 3

[Eric Ellenberg]

(In reply to comment #2)
> Yes, but Java 5 Update 1 still failed to load after restarting the computer
> (update 4 should fix this, I suppose).

WFM - I tested this using a clean install of Firefox 1.0.5 on
http://www.everyvideogame.com/ and the Java 5.0 Update 1 runtime successfully
installed and the java applet(s) worked (on Win2K/SP4).

Reporter, the plugin service is pointing to an old version of the Java runtime.
Can you provide a URL where your issue is occurring? QuickTime has a Java
extension I know of, so maybe that site requires the "QuickTime for Java" component.

However, as Kevin said, the plugin service should always point to the latest
version of Java which is currently 5.0 Update 4 (or 1.5.0_04). The xpi URL is here:
http://java.sun.com/update/1.5.0/jre-1_5_0_04-windows-i586.xpi

Perhaps the plugin finder should simply point to http://java.com/en/download/ ?

Comment 4

[Alex Tanner]

> WFM - I tested this using a clean install of Firefox 1.0.5 on
> http://www.everyvideogame.com/ and the Java 5.0 Update 1 runtime successfully
> installed and the java applet(s) worked (on Win2K/SP4).
> 
> Reporter, the plugin service is pointing to an old version of the Java runtime.
> Can you provide a URL where your issue is occurring? QuickTime has a Java
> extension I know of, so maybe that site requires the "QuickTime for Java"
component.
> 
> However, as Kevin said, the plugin service should always point to the latest
> version of Java which is currently 5.0 Update 4 (or 1.5.0_04). The xpi URL is
here:
> http://java.sun.com/update/1.5.0/jre-1_5_0_04-windows-i586.xpi
> 
> Perhaps the plugin finder should simply point to http://java.com/en/download/ ?

I actually traced this problem to an option on the Advanced page of the Java
Control Panel called '<applet> tag support'. I think that Sun should release
(yet another!) update to the Java Runtime Environment without this option,
because I can see two reasons for deprecating it:

1) Even when the 'Mozilla / Netscape' option is checked during the browser
registration section of the JRE installer, the '<applet> tag support' option
defaults to 'Internet Explorer: enabled', 'Mozilla/Netscape: disabled'.

2) Alteration of this option is essentially the same as toggling Java on/off
using a browser's own options.

Did Sun do this to irritate Mozilla/Netscape users? To novice computer users
equipped with Mozilla/Netscape, it would seem that the plugin is incompatible
with their browser. This "bug" could discourage people from using
Mozilla/Netscape if unattended to, so please let Sun know about this.

PS: I think it is a good idea to point the plugin finder to
http://java.com/en/download, because then it will always get the latest version
of JRE.

One last point: Why does the JRE XPI extension appear temporarily in the
'Extensions Manager' while the plugin is downloading, then disappear after the
installation has finished? Is this true for any other extensions?

Comment 5

[Eric Ellenberg]

(In reply to comment #4)

Your points about the "<APPLET> tag support" in the Java Control Panel are well
taken, but they aren't relevant to the original bug. That issue should be filed
elsewhere, definitely with Sun and possibly as a separate tech evangelism bug.

As for the java.com download referral idea...it would work, but the link I
offered earlier only serves up English java. A link to http://java.com/download/
would probably take users to their proper locale, but the installation
instructions on that page aren't as good (for example, that page doesn't offer
an xpi installer like the earlier link does).

As for your last point about the XPI installer appearing and disappearing: an
extension and a plugin aren't the same thing. From what I saw it do, the Java
XPI installer merely opens another (platform-specific) installer that downloads
the JRE and installs it to the computer (using Windows Installer in this case).
I wouldn't consider it a bug.

A bug should address one specific issue, and so far in this bug, there are three:
1) Plugin Finder downloads old version of Java Plugin,
2) Java Control Panel doesn't acknowledge Firefox in "<APPLET> tag support"
under Advanced tab, and
3) JRE XPI installer doesn't act like other XPIs (in other words, Firefox should
show whether or not Java is installed in the Plugin UI).

Reporter, I think this bug should be renamed to "Plugin Finder Service downloads
_old_ version of Java Plugin" so the original bug is easier to triage and fix.

- Eric

Comment 6

[Alex Tanner]

I'll try and explain why I reported three bugs (Eric picked this up in <a
href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=298900#c5">Comment #5</a>):

Bug 1) was the bug that I originally thought I needed to report, because I
complained to web sites about the Java plugin not working (as in this bug
description) and they told me I needed to update the plugin. I happened to
notice the Plugin Finder didn't install the very latest release, so I assumed
this was the problem.
Bug 2) was reported by me when I had installed the latest version of the Java
plugin and found the problem described above was still occuring. I then delved
into the Java settings and found that this bug (as in <a
href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=298900#c4">Comment #4</a>)
was actually causing the initial problem.
Bug 3) was a bug I reported simply because it seemed relevant to the subject of
plugins and extensions and I knew I had seen it somewhere in the Bugzilla
database, and wanted to find out its number quickly. If anyone has read my
feedback on Hendrix.Mozilla.Org, they will find that I have complained twice
about the Bugzilla search engine being far too slow. For this reason, I asked a
question in the hope that I would get the number of the bug immediately. Thanks,
Eric, for telling me (in <a
href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=298900#c5">Comment #5</a>that
this is not actually a bug.

In summary: -

Bug 1) INVALID became Bug 2) NEW.
Bug 3) INVALID.

How about changing the bug title now?

Comment 7

[Alex Tanner]

Sorry about the HTML mistakes in the last comment. Not intended.

Comment 8

[Alex Tanner]

I just can't understand why the plugin installed correctly on Eric's computer as per Comment #3, but I had to enable the "<applet> tag support" option to get it to work as per Comment #4. Anway, Java 1.0.5_05 is now out. Let's see if that works straightaway. All I can think of is that my network admins have set restrictions preventing the plugin from being activated instantly in Mozilla. Those IE users...

Comment 9

[Michael Morgan [:morgamic]]

Updating PFS bugs -- nobody has touched these in a long time, so I am assigning to default, so we can pick them off the list one-by-one.

Comment 10

[Michael Morgan [:morgamic]]

I think this should be fixed -- the URI we are supposed to use for the latest JRE is:
http://java.com/jre-install.xpi


That is what is offered up by PFS now.

Alex, if you are still having these issues w/ the latest update, please let us know and we can see what we can do to help.  Sorry this has gone untended for so long.  Future requests will not take so long.