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by Goldy Lukka.
Original Post: The cost of installing a new JDK
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Are you planning to install the new JDK 1.5 or have you already installed it? Think its all over? Just to avoid future confusion and blues continue reading...
The community seems to be excited with the new Java 1.5/5.0 release and there are varied thoughts about its enhancements and performance benchmarks. While installing a non-beta version of any JDK is very good choice and recommendation, things are not as rosy as they seem.
XJB takes a look at the hidden cost* of installing the new JDK.
1. Uninstall the old JDK: Any time you install the new JDK, the older one needs to be removed/uninstalled explicitly (sometimes manuall also, in case the base directory could not be deleted properly). Although you may feel the new JDK is now up and running, you will never wish to waste those extra MBs for something that is of no use now.
2. Web/App Servers: Alright. Do you have any web/app server installed in your machine prior to installing the new JDK? I am sorry to say that it is most likely that it may no longer start or worse yet, malfunctions. Stop laughing! thats not a serious joke. If you are using Tomcat for example, you need to change the environment variables and classpaths properly. Although most of the time they point to the right location, it may not do so with all the versions of your web/app server.
3. Your pretty lovely IDE: Sorry, but if you are using an IDE and selected the JDK installation directory when you installed it, it may no longer work. Please dont panic if it does not start of gives you troubles. Thats natural. Worse yet, if your IDE doesnt have any option to configure the JRE/JDK it is using you need to install your love again.
4. Java based Installables: Many java based installables, I mean, the installable files created by some tools like InstallAnywhere or similar, may not be able to serve you anymore. And yes, there is no way out for this issue, or atleast, I do not know one. *This fact is based on my personal experience when I created an installer for JACK with InstallAnywhere that was working fine with JDK 1.3 but the same failed with JDK 1.4.
5. Other Installed Programs: Most of the time you will be able to find out programs that depend on Java and you may try to reinstall/re-configure them to make the necessary changes. But many a time you may not be able to understand why things are malfunctioning. Try out your J2ME wireless toolkit if you have installed one. After the new JRE/JDK takes over, the J2ME toolkit goes banana and do not tell you whats wrong with it. Try it!
How to make sure the new installation doesnt hinder with your present environment? Well, pretty difficult in case things are strongly bound with the present environment of JDK but you should indentify the key and frequently used products/installs that are dependent on your present JVM and take necessary backups of the project/environment settings associated with the JVM.
I hope the list here is extensive enough to consider the after shocks. Well, the intention here is not to discourage you from updating your new JDK but to prevent future troubles arising out of your decesion to install one.
After all, prevention is always better than cure :)
*please note that the cost here doesnt mean monetary cost.
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