Friday, 28 March 2008

No Web Start for 64-bit Sun Java

Sun does not include Java Web Start in its 64-bit version of Java. It appears that Sun thinks that you are not supposed to run Web Start on 64-bit machines, since these mostly are servers (?), and... eh... sorry, I cannot follow their reasoning. Let's hope they change their minds.

I haven't tried it myself, but here is a description of how to run 32-bit Java Web Start on 64-bit Ubuntu.

Update: At the time of writing this, an AMD64 version of Java Web Start is at the top of Sun's Request for Enhancements list.

Update: There will be support for 64-bit Java Web Start in an upcoming release, 1.6.0_12 (I think). Ismael Juma points out that an early access release is available. See his comment below.

2 comments:

seth said...

yeah - it's a big problem...
as for me 32 bit java not drawing UI in swing apps :( (and throught web start too)

Ismael Juma said...

There's an early access release with 64-bit support:

https://jdk6.dev.java.net/6uNea.html