Do I need to keep all the Java updates?

[Ramon F Herrera]

My WinXP computer shows all this:

Control Panel
Add or Remove Programs
Currently installed programs:
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 2
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 3
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 4
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 6
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 10

Each one is a separately installed program from the Windows point of
view. Should I keep them all? I would like to leave only the highest
numbered update and remove the rest.

TIA,

-Ramon F Herrera

 

[Oliver Wong]

My WinXP computer shows all this:

Control Panel
Add or Remove Programs
Currently installed programs:
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 2
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 3
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 4
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 6
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 10

Each one is a separately installed program from the Windows point of
view. Should I keep them all? I would like to leave only the highest
numbered update and remove the rest.

What you could do is to remove *all* of them, and then to download and
install JSE Runtime Environment 6.0.

- Oliver

 

[Daniel Pitts]

What you could do is to remove *all* of them, and then to download and
install JSE Runtime Environment 6.0.

- Oliver

Hmm, Isn't 6.0 still in beta?

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

Daniel Pitts wrote on 27.02.2007 22:38:

Hmm, Isn't 6.0 still in beta?

The final version has been released last December

Thomas

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?=]

My WinXP computer shows all this:

Control Panel
Add or Remove Programs
Currently installed programs:
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 2
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 3
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 4
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 6
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 10

Each one is a separately installed program from the Windows point of
view. Should I keep them all? I would like to leave only the highest
numbered update and remove the rest.

Unless you have a specific need (like for testing) to be
able to use a specific update, then the last one should be fine.

Note that Java 5 update 11 and Java 6 are both available.

Arne

 

[Mickey Segal]

Hmm, Isn't 6.0 still in beta?

http://www.java.com/getjava/ offers 5.0 update 11, but
http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp offers 6.0. Does this mean
that 6.0 is in a new category of gamma release that is offered to some but
not to others?

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?=]

http://www.java.com/getjava/ offers 5.0 update 11, but
http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp offers 6.0. Does this mean
that 6.0 is in a new category of gamma release that is offered to some but
not to others?

6.0 is GA now.

Arne

 

[Mickey Segal]

6.0 is GA now.

So why does http://www.java.com/getjava/ still offer 5.0 update 11?

 

[Oliver Wong]

So why does http://www.java.com/getjava/ still offer 5.0 update 11?

Occam's Razor: "left hand doesn't know what right hand is doing".

- Oliver

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?=]

So why does http://www.java.com/getjava/ still offer 5.0 update 11?

SUN make mistakes just like everybody else.

Arne

 

[Mickey Segal]

SUN make mistakes just like everybody else.

I mentioned this discrepancy to the folks at Sun weeks ago. I think there
must be some purpose, similar to Firefox 1.5 not advising upgrades to 2.0
yet, but 2.0 being featured on the Web site. My guess is that this is some
form of gradual roll-out.

But both 5 update 11 and 6 have major bugs so I've taken refuge in the 7
alpha, which seems very stable to me.

 

[Knute Johnson]

But both 5 update 11 and 6 have major bugs so I've taken refuge in the 7
alpha, which seems very stable to me.

What bugs?

 

[Mickey Segal]

What bugs?

In 1.5: http://www.segal.org/java/sun_jit/index.html, fixed in 1.6
In 1.6: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6368342, fixed in
one of the early 1.7 builds.

These bugs were so annoying that we used the Microsoft VM for demos until
the 1.7 builds came out, despite the memory leak in the Microsoft VM and its
problem with Tablet PC support.

 

[Knute Johnson]

In 1.5: http://www.segal.org/java/sun_jit/index.html, fixed in 1.6
In 1.6: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6368342, fixed in
one of the early 1.7 builds.

These bugs were so annoying that we used the Microsoft VM for demos until
the 1.7 builds came out, despite the memory leak in the Microsoft VM and its
problem with Tablet PC support.

It is annoying when it is your code that turns up obscure bugs.

 

[Mickey Segal]

It is annoying when it is your code that turns up obscure bugs.

One of the bugs turned out to have been reported by two others, so it was
not that obscure. I think people are less likely to report Hotspot bugs
because it is hard to create a reductionistic example to illustrate the bug;
I know I had that attitude. Other bugs we've found using Tablet PCs, and
the bugs turn out to be race conditions exposed by the Tablets but present
for everyone.

When you have a huge applet running in unusual environments you find quite a
few bugs. But the guys at Sun took them very seriously, at the highest
levels of the company, and all the most serious bugs are already fixed in
alpha versions of Java 7.

 

[Lew]

When you have a huge applet running in unusual environments you find quite a
few bugs. But the guys at Sun took them very seriously, at the highest
levels of the company, and all the most serious bugs are already fixed in
alpha versions of Java 7.

As someone else mentioned, Sun makes mistakes like everyone else. The measure
of a man or an organization is how they deal with their mistakes. From your
description Sun deserves kudos in that department.

-- Lew

 

[Mickey Segal]

As someone else mentioned, Sun makes mistakes like everyone else. The
measure of a man or an organization is how they deal with their mistakes.
From your description Sun deserves kudos in that department.

I was impressed with how well they responded on the bugs. The versions
offered at various sites, the subject being discussed earlier in the thread,
may be something other than a mistake, possibly some gradual roll-out.