RFC: Netx - disable desktop shortcuts

[Deepak Bhole]

* Omair Majid <omajid at redhat.com> [2009-07-30 11:30]:
> Hi,
>
> I would like to disable the desktop launcher code in Netx as it has some  
>  issues. Thanks to Deepak who originally brought up these problems.
> The two major ones are:
>
> 1. First of all, the desktop launcher Netx creates dont work well with  
> the alternatives system. They all invoke $CURRENT_JDK_HOME/bin/javaws  
> instead of /usr/bin/javaws. However changing to /usr/bin/javaws brings  
> up other problems. /usr/bin/javaws is likely to be some other JDK which  
> may or may not understand Netx's options that it uses in the launcher.  
> This could lead to desktop launchers that dont work. /usr/bin/javaws  
> overwite our shortcut with it's own which would then call, for example,  
> /usr/java/latest/bin/javaws instead of /usr/bin/javaws. Also note that  
> Sun's javaws creates a launcher that points to their cache. Netx wont be  
> able to use that cache.
>
> Part of this issue can be fixed by using the exact same options as Sun's  
> javaws to maintain compatibility. However I dont see a simple way to  
> make a proprietary JRE's javaws invoke /usr/bin/javaws. Or to share the  
> cache between multiple JDKs.
>
> 2. These shortcuts dont work offline, even if the application allows it.  
>  The current launchers just point Netx to the original JNLP file, which  
> wont work if the machine is offline (even if everything has been cached  
> by Netx).
>
> The correct fix is to ensure that Netx supports offline mode, uses the  
> cache and JNLP update mechanism correctly and then make the launcher  
> point to the cache. This might take some time to implement correctly.
>
> Because of these major issues, I would like to disable desktop shortcut  
> support in Netx.
>
> ChangeLog:
> 2009-07-30  Omair Majid  <omajid at redhat.com>
>
>   * rt/net/sourceforge/jnlp/runtime/ApplicationInstance.java
>   (initialize): Disable creating desktop shortcuts.
>
> Any comments?
>

Looks good.

Cheers,
Deepak

> Cheers,
> Omair

> diff -r 051ca564791d rt/net/sourceforge/jnlp/runtime/ApplicationInstance.java
> --- a/rt/net/sourceforge/jnlp/runtime/ApplicationInstance.java	Thu Jul 30 04:51:32 2009 -0400
> +++ b/rt/net/sourceforge/jnlp/runtime/ApplicationInstance.java	Thu Jul 30 10:51:57 2009 -0400
> @@ -109,7 +109,24 @@
>       */
>      public void initialize() {
>          installEnvironment();
> -        addMenuAndDesktopEntries();
> +        
> +        /*
> +         * FIXME: Disable creating desktop entries for now
> +         * 
> +         * there are some major issues we need to work out before we can enable them
> +         * 1. Playing nice with the altnatives system
> +         *   - use the system preferred jdk (/usr/bin/javaws)
> +         *   - dont assume what jdk javaws corresponds to
> +         *   - make sure our shortcuts work with the sun jdk and vice versa 
> +         *     (may not be possible since sun's javaws creates a launcher that
> +         *     links to /usr/java/${ver}/bin/javaws)
> +         *   - we should use the same options and arguments as sun's javaws
> +         * 2. Make shortcuts work offline 
> +         *   - make the cache updates and replacements work properly
> +         *   - shortcuts should use the cache
> +         *   
> +         *  addMenuAndDesktopEntries();
> +         */
>      }
>  
>      /**