306651 - incompatibility of registry entries with java control panel, causes error if you select applet tag support for Mozilla

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Installer, defect)

Description

[White-Gandalf]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6

after an independent installation the java control panel searches:
  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\mozilla.org\Mozilla]
  "CurrentVersion"="1.7.10"

and tries to find:
  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\mozilla.org\Mozilla\1.7.10\Main]
  "Install Directory"="C:\\TOOLS\\internet\\firefox\\"

but firefox installation writes:
  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox\1.0.6 (en-US)\Main]
  "Install Directory"="C:\\TOOLS\\internet\\firefox\\"

so java isn't working in firefox when installed independently.


Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. install java as for example "jre-1_5_0_04-windows-i586-p.exe"
2. start java control panel
3. try to enable
"Erweitert"/"Einstellungen"/"<applet>-tag-Unterstützung"/"Mozilla und Netscape"
(sorry - i havn't ordered "german" but as well didn't find an option for
language selection)

Verify: The same procedure with "Regmon.exe" started.

Actual Results:  
The Java control panel reports an incorrectly installed browser or insufficient
admin rights.

Expected Results:  
Either Firefox installer writes a redundant copy of his "Install Directory" to
the location where the Java control panel expects it, or (maybe better for
future versions) the firefox team synchronizes its development in this
interfacing details with the java development team.

The entry "http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/faq#q2.2" should be adopted to
this general problem:

Index: mozilla-org/html/support/firefox/faq.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla-org/html/support/firefox/faq.html,v
retrieving revision 1.19
diff -u -r1.19 faq.html
--- mozilla-org/html/support/firefox/faq.html	22 Mar 2005 21:40:14 -0000	1.19
+++ mozilla-org/html/support/firefox/faq.html	1 Sep 2005 01:51:00 -0000
@@ -370,13 +370,16 @@
   <a href="http://seb.mozdev.org/firebird">Unofficial Installer</a>, then <a
   href="http://java.sun.com/getjava/manual.html">install Java using
XPInstall</a>.</p>
 
-  <p>If you have already downloaded Firefox as a ZIP file, you can add the
-  registry information that JRE 1.4.2 and later require by hand. To do this,
-  save <a
href="http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/resources/firebird-jre142-fix.reg">this
registry file</a>
-  to your desktop, and double-click to import it. If you are asked if you want
-  to add the information to the Windows registry, click <span
-  class="button">Yes</span>. After this is done, you can install JRE 1.4.2 if
-  required, then restart Firefox and use Java.</p>
+  <p>Java and Firefox may be installed separately and independently.
+  The Java installer searches the registry for:<br>
+  <code>[HKLM\Software\mozilla.org\Mozilla]<i>CurrentVersion</i></code><br>
+  The value there is expected as the next level subkey, 
+  where it searches for (assuming "1.7.10" as "CurrentVersion"):<br>
+  <code>[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\mozilla.org\Mozilla\1.7.10\Main]<i>Install
Directory</i></code><br>
+  These keys are not placed under
<code>[HKLM\Software\mozilla.org\Mozilla]</code> by Firefox,
+  but instead under (for example) <code>[HKLM\Software\Mozilla\Mozilla
Firefox\1.0.6 (en-US)\Main]</code>.<br>
+  That must be corrected by hand at the moment, with the appropriate numbers
used.<br>
+  Without it, the Java control panel will report an incorrectly installed
Mozilla.</p>
 
   <p>If neither of the above solutions work, you can use <a
   href="http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/download.html">JRE 1.4.1_05</a> until the

Comment 1

[zug_treno]

Related to bug 294219?

Comment 2

[White-Gandalf]

Request from [e-mail]: Related to bug 294219?

Answer: I cannot confirm that. Previously to my update to Firefox/1.0.6, I once
installed Java on Firefox via online-installation, independently from an
existing Java Runtime, which worked. Long time later came on OS crash on my PC
(caused by other circumstances), because of which I had to reinstall Win98.
After that reinstall, Java (as to be expected) didn't work anymore in any
application. Thus I decided to reinstall the Java runtime, and while I was at
it, an updated version, as well as to reinstall an updated version of Firefox.

Thus this situation is much different from bug 294219, where Java first seemed
to work in the updated Firefox, but crashed.

I got the impression, that the Java control Panel does nothing more than copy
the file "NPOJI610.dll" to the Firefox plugins and somehow register it with
Firefox, depending on some interfacing policy via the registry, which is somehow
violated by Firefox 1.0.6... That should be (most likely) independent from
crashes in running Java runtimes.

Comment 3

[OstGote!]

related to Bug 184042

Test page
http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml

Steps to Reproduce:

1.Execute file C:\Programs\Java\jre1.5.0_0x\bin\javaws.exe
2.Go to Edit>Preferences and in Java Control Panel select the "Advanced" banner
3.In "<APPLET> tag support" select "Mozilla and Netscape" and click on "Apply"

Comment 4

[OstGote!]

*** Bug 294219 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 5

[OstGote!]

*** Bug 296229 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 6

[OstGote!]

*** Bug 307591 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 7

[Martin Andersen]

Having the same problem on Windows XP with FireFox 1.0.4; I updated from Java 1.4.1 to 1.5, now Java doesn't run. No errors. Works fine in Opera. Downloaded the latest FireFox 1.5 rc3 in the hope it was fixed. Same problem. I'd installed Java 1.5 via the XPI plugin, so I tried downloading the standalone installer and reinstalled. Same problem. So for now I have to switch to Opera.
There's a couple of bug reports here relating to it, all with nobody working on it.

Comment 8

[Ed Iglehart]

(In reply to comment #7)
> Having the same problem on Windows XP with FireFox 1.0.4; I updated from Java
> 1.4.1 to 1.5, now Java doesn't run. No errors. Works fine in Opera. Downloaded
> the latest FireFox 1.5 rc3 in the hope it was fixed. Same problem. I'd
> installed Java 1.5 via the XPI plugin, so I tried downloading the standalone
> installer and reinstalled. Same problem. So for now I have to switch to Opera.
> There's a couple of bug reports here relating to it, all with nobody working on
> it.
> 
More or less the same here, except firefox handles applets fine so long as they come from pagess on home disc.  When getting pages in from online connections, it fails after obviously loading the applet.

Comment 9

[Ed Iglehart]

It seems connected with filters, e.g. adblock extension, etc.

I seem to have fixed the problem by going to extensions/adblock/options/adblock options and unchecking  obj-tabs   Everything else seems to work now.  Ads are still blocked, and java applets work as usual.  -ed iglehart

Comment 10

[Ed Iglehart]

Well, it worked for a few hours and then reverted.  Now I have upgraded the adblock to v.5.2.056+  from http://aasted.org/adblock/viewtopic.php?t=2264 and all seems well.

Comment 11

[William Bumgarner [:zsinj]]

Please use a recent version of Firefox, available at
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/, and report back with your results in
relation to this bug report.

If this problem can be reproduced, please reopen this bug report. Due to age/lack of response, closing. (bug cleaning)