Affiliation
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Fri, 10/19/2012 - 20:30
Does anyone successfully run VSTAR on their Mac? I'm running OS 10.8.2 on an iMac with 4g of mem and the latest Java. All I get is a very brief Java logo followed by a very brief window that seems to be saying the ap is being downloaded from AAVSO and that is it! I have a Windows 7 running under parallels, but I really don't want to go there as Java should work on OX 10 thanks ..george
An excellent question. My iMac is upgraded to the new OS but I haven't yet tried VStar on it. I'll do that tonight or tomorrow and let you know my experience.
VStar's capabilities have grown and grown thanks to David's continuing development!
Cheers,
Doug
Vstar - what a great piece of software that is! - runs without problems on my MacBook (10.6.7, 4 gb memory).
/Gustav, HGUA
Indeed - David is someone who is reliable in his on-going support of the AAVSO mission!
I just tried running VStar both from Webstart and from download. It appears that Mac OS X 10.8.2 has introduced some additional digital certificate/trusted developer issue for running Java-based applications. It looks like VStar would run without difficulty if the OS just allowed it to!
No doubt a fix or workaround will be circulated soon.
Cheers,
Doug
Here is the workaround - go to "Systems Preferences", "Security & Privacy", and select the "General" tab. Click to select applications from "Anywhere". VStar starts as expected after this.
Cheers,
Doug
That is a valid temporary fix, but be careful about leaving that setting as is. Apple's implementation and support of java is not the best (in fact, it's probably the worst), and that setting is there for a reason. It's definitely a feature rather than a bug, but an inconvenient one.
We've looked into getting software certificates from Verisign, but that may not resolve the issue. We're still investigating solutions.
Afraid it didnt work for me. I noticed in the Java Control Pannel --> Security --> Certificates there is nothing listed. Could this be the issue? Stefano, could you check to see if you have a certificate listed? There is an Import option, but I have no idea what I'm looking for. Also, what version of Java are you running? Mine is Java 9 Update 7, also know as 1.7.0_09
..george
Thanks Gustav and Doug. There will be a new release in the next week or so. I have been trying to get this out since Easter, but work and family life have kept me busy.
AAVSO is a great organisation full of enthusiastic, talented people, and I really enjoy supporting it!
Regards,
David
Here are somethings I've tried that, unfortunately, didnt help:
I brought up the WIN7 environment and exported the VSTAR certificate and Imported it into the MAC Java environment. This had no effect on the problem,
I bit the bullet and tried running VSTAR in the Win7 machine I keep in a Parallels Virtual Machine. I brought the version of Java up to most current level. Tried running VSTAR. It looked promisng until I got this error:
User Properties Error
JAVA.IO.IOException: Access Denied
I dont know what this means
I will not give up, though, because VSTAR looks wonderful. "There are no problems, just opportunities"
..george
I have just updated the software on my MacBook Pro and VStar does not work for me. Neither does Zapper.
Paul
Hi alla,
I have a mac book pro 2 years old,mountain Lion updated 2 days ago and VStar works fine.
Best regards
Stefano Padovan,AAVSOpsd
www.stefanopadovan.com
astro@stefanopadovan.com
T5@ iTelescope.net
Hi all
I'm sorry about the problems you're seeing with the latest Mac OS X version. I am still using 10.6.8 so have not yet run into this.
Thanks to Doug and Matt for the preferences suggestions and comments.
As per http://www.aavso.org/vstar-overview, you can also download VStar from here to run as a non-WebStarted application (assuming WebStart is the issue here which I suspect it is):
https://sourceforge.net/projects/vstar/files/
in particular:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/vstar/files/vstar-2.13.zip/download
and for all 2.13 compatible plugins written by me:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/vstar/files/vstar-plugins-2.13.zip/download
The plugins are also available here:
http://www.aavso.org/vstar-plugin-library
It's interesting that at least one person reports that they didn't have this problem after the OS upgrade.
I will also do some research and keep in contact with Sara and Matt about this, given that presumably affects any WebStarted Java program, e.g. Zapper, VStar, SunEntry.
Regards,
David
Hi All,
Aside from the known security certificate issues with the Mac OSX 10.8 (which Doug's workaround addresses) I'm wondering if it is Mac OS or the version of Java that is causing problems with our web start applications...
Paul,
Zapper was working for you the day before, right? What exactly did you update, was it the version of Java you are using or your Mac operating system?
Please let us know what version of Java you are using by opening a terminal terminal window and typing this: java -version
It might be interesting to compare this.
-Sara
You raise a good question Sara. I'm not aware of a major change to the way the Java security policy works for WebStart applications (independent of OS), but that needs to be ruled out.
George mentioned above that he ran into what sounds like a security policy error even on Windows 7 with the latest version of Java. George, as per Sara's suggestion to Paul, can you tell us (via "java -version" typed at DOS prompt or from Java Preferences) what version of Java you have now installed? Does that error message appear in a dialog box as soon as or before the VStar main window opens?
Regards,
David
Hello!
From the OS X terminal I get this:
java version "1.7.0_09"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_09-b05)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.5-b02, mixed mode)
Note: I had to install the JDK to get OS X to recognize 1.7.0_09. Installing just the JRE didnt do it. The JRE install left this:
java version "1.6.0_37"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_37-b06-434-11M3909)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.12-b01-434, mixed mode)
I am running OS X 10.8.2 on an iMac with a 2.7 GHz Intel Core I5 and 8GB mem
and Safari Version 6.0.1 (8536.26.14)
By the way, there appears to be no messages put on the Console when VSTAR fails to start
Regarding Win7, I removed Java from that virtual machine as I only use it to run AIP4Win and occasionally CCD Stack. I installed Java there a few days ago just to take a look at VSTAR. When it failed (see my previous post) I removed Java.
..geo
Sara
I upgraded both OS and Java in quick succession.
Here is the Java version information: java version "1.6.0_37" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_37-b06-434-11M3909) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.12-b01-434, mixed mode).
Both Zapper and VStar ceased working with the upgrades (whether Java or OS X caused the problem, I cant tell)
Paul
Hi all
There's an increasing amount of Net traffic about this, e.g.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20109146?tstart=0#20109146?tstart…
Not a pretty solution.
Regards,
David
I can confirm that correcting the symbolic link *does* get VStar working using the WebStart link!
Cheers,
Doug
I have been having the same problem with SunEntry, the applet for entering solar observations. None of the fixes listed in this thread have worked for me. I even tried deleting Java 7 and reinstalling Java 6, but that didn't work either. I tried downloading a fresh copy of SunEntry; again, no dice. It worked perfectly before I installed Java 7.
I tried downloading VSTAR and had the same result: a crash after the Java splash screen.
Here's the version information from Terminal:
java version "1.6.0_37"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_37-b06-434-11M3909)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.12-b01-434, mixed mode)
There must be something in the new Java update that doesn't play well with VSTAR and SunEntry.
Bill
If I am reading this correctly, it looks like other people (outside of the AAVSO) are complaining about the new Mac version of Java 7, update 9 (released Octobser 17th) having trouble running Java Web Start applications:
https://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=10647561
There is also something about it in the release notes (right at the bottom of the page):
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/7u9-relnotes-1863279.html
I don't know what the workaround is at this point beyond trying to use an older version, but based on Bill's experience, maybe that isn't straightforward either.
Suggestions anyone?
-Sara
Based on what everyone on the forum has said and through private correspondence its the Mac OS X 10.8.2 which is giving problems.
I think my hypothesis about the java version is out because it seems to be both Java 1.7.0_9 and 1.6.0_37.
Does anyone disagree?
My iMac at work won't start VStar when using the WebStart link on the AAVSO webpage (which "Download Now" uses, somewhat ambiguously!) However the version that one gets from Sourceforge works fine an the same machine.
Cheers,
Doug
Hi,
I'd like to confirm that for me, VStar was working as a webstart app, on Mac OS Lion 10.7.4, prior to the latest Apple Java Update, and failed after the upadte.
The latest Apple Java Update, basically removed the Apple supplied Java 6 webstart. Full Java 1.6.0_37 remains on the system.
I chose to download and install Oracle Java 7.
I went to sourceforge, and downloaded the VStar-2.13.zip file which contains the complete VStar application. After unzipping the zip file, in the vstar folder I found VStar.sh. In a terminal window I entered the following command:
./VStar.sh
and VStar started up normally.
In my opinion, the problem lies with Oracle Java 7 webstart code. I don't think it is necessary to reinstall Apple Java 6. In fact, if you rename the file VStar.sh to VStar.command, you can just double click the file to launch the VStar application.
Bruce
#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Tried the work around put forth by Bruce and can now start VSTAR. As a new user this will be fine until the issue is resolved... George
Great!
As an aside
Hi all
Great!
As an aside Bruce, there's also VStar.app that is double-clickable from Finder.
Regards,
David
My MacBook Pro is prompting me to do an update to Java.
"Java for OS X 2012-006 delivers improved security, reliability, and compatibility by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_37.
This update uninstalls the Apple-provided Java applet plug-in from all web browsers. To use applets on a web page, click on the region labeled "Missing plug-in" to go download the latest version of the Java applet plug-in from Oracle.
Please quit any web browsers and Java applications before installing this update.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5493 for more details about this update.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222 for information about the security content of this update."
Form what I've read here so far if I do nothing, my Java programs will continue to work. if I install this update they may not. Correct?
You are right, Mike. We are pretty sure that if you update, you will no longer be able to use Java Web Start apps like VStar, SeqPlot, Zapper, SunEntry etc. Matthew updated and that's what happened to him.
The only safe workaround we know of is to simply use the VStar and the other programs on your own computer and forget about trying to use Web Start.
I have added links to zipped versions of each Web Start program to their individual web pages.
-Sara
#next_pages_container {
#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Yes, I believe that is correct. As long as you don't apply the update, which removes Apple Java Webstart, you should be okay.
The problem is that the Oracle Java Webstart, doesn't seem to work.
Apple doesn't want to fix the security holes in their Java Webstart, because it is their direction to move away from supplying Java for Mac OS X, and cause the user to rely on Oracle Java.
Bruce
Hi All,
I got a new Mac Mini last week (OSX 10.8) and with it the latest updates of Java (1.6.0_43) and I am pleased to announce that Java Web Start applications work fine with this version.
I would be interested to hear if others who had problems running VStar who posted to this thread can use it normally once they have gotten the update.
Thanks,
Sara
Hello Sara,
Confirming that I can now run the Java Wev Start application! Thanks!
I run an iMac with 16 gig and OS X 10.8.2
..george