A minor update to Mac OS X is causing headaches for some computer owners, who find their systems no longer work properly when using Java-based applications or visiting certain Web sites.
Apple Computer acknowledged the problem late on Monday and posted a workaround to its Web site.
"After updating to Mac OS X 10.3.9, some systems may have issues with Java applications and Java-enabled websites when using Safari," the Mac maker said in a posting to its support Web site. "Safari may unexpectedly quit, and standalone Java applications may unexpectedly quit or not launch."
An Apple representative said the company plans to keep the update available. As of 1700 on Monday, it had not posted information alerting customers to the potential Java problem on the download page for the update. Apple released the OS update on Friday.
Among those hit by the bug were David Geller, CEO of Seattle-based email marketing company WhatCounts, who said it affected both his 15-inch PowerBook and a dual-processor Power Mac G5.
"I found my entire Java development toolset stopped working right after applying 10.3.9," he said in an email interview. Geller said he wondered how such "an egregious error" slipped through Apple's testing.
"I sure hope Tiger is better than this release," he said, referring to the next major update to Mac OS X, which is set to go on sale on 29 April. "I really want to love this stuff, but [Apple is] testing my patience, especially since I've moved all my developers to OS X."
For those who are affected, Apple said the problem can be fixed by reinstalling two earlier security patches: Java 1.4.2 Update 2 and Security Update 2005-002.
The company also offered up a test that people can do to see if their systems are affected. Customers should open the terminal program and type "java -version" (without quotes) and then hit return, it said. Computers affected by the issue will get the message "Segmentation fault."
Talkback
We still don't have solid numbers on the percentage of people affected. None of my systems were affected by this update.
My system is not affected either. Could it be the ZD Net (i.e. MS FUD) machine is in high gear?
Check out the article on Tiger and 'Longhorn' that actually says things like 'Mac is an iPod peripheral' and 'Apple might have copied MS on that' (spotlight)
How lame.
Ina Fried? Gotta love those clever headlines there Ina... but a bit of a stretch that "egregious" canard eh?
An E-Mail Marketing company. That says it all. Couldn't happen to a better operation. Mine seems to be fine though, by the way.
"...email marketing company..." So ZDNet is interviewing spammers? My system's Java was not affected by this update, but I'm sure glad to hear this spamming company was screwed!
For those with NetGear routers who were affected by 10.3.8 (the "fix" is to insert your router's DNS numbers into your Network panel; but this may only be advisable if they're static (remain constant) and not dynamic (frequently changing) and are happy that 10.3.9 fixed that "bug", you may want to hold onto the "fix".
Upon removing the DNS "fix", everything worked in 10.3.9 as before, except... iTunes seemed to load the store really slowly! Especially right at the very end... takes forever to finish!
I tried reinserting the DNS "fix" and the iTunes store now loads up immediately, no long wait.
This may affect you or not. It may only affect NetGear users (like myself), but those of us who still want the speed we're accustomed to (if, say for example, you're noticing how slowly the iTunes store loads), just reinsert your DNS numbers to bring back the speed.
Luposian
It's probably a pretty common problem if Apple is responding this quickly (they seem to usually take a few weeks to acknowledge bugs.) Two of my three machines that run Panther were affected, an iBook G3 dual-USB, and an iMac G5 20". My G5 2X2GHz wasn't hit by the java bug, but was affected by Safari crashes (easily fixed by PithHelmet and AcidSearch updates. I usually use OmniWeb anyway.) I agree that testing was not as extensive as it should have been, but the hand-wringing but some folks seems a bit melodramatic.
This all goes to show what a high standard that Apple has set for itself and its users. If an OS X update has even a minor problem its news, and people start to freak.
On the other hand, the latest Windows SP1 SERVER update broke 50 "key" applications and probably 10 times as many "non-key" applications. The Windows SP 2 client update did not fair much better and we are not even counting the bum rush of viruses, spyware, and other malware that keeps getting in under Microsoft's radar.
It all goes to show how different these two worlds are. Apple users expect (near) perfection updates and Microsoft users avoid updates, because they know for certain its going to break everything.
Storm in a teacup more like...
This problem - which I had on my powerbook - is solved by downloading a 16MB security update which would have been installed on most affected machines already (i.e. not something new) it just needs to be reinstalled and solves all the problems. Why anyone should think that it is a MAJOR problem which infuriates mac users is beyond me. It is an overblown problem, which Apple have acknowledged (here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301380), and which is solve inside 5 minutes. Things could be so much worse, like that there was a virus or worm or trojan or spyware or hack vulnerability or something...... must be a slow macbashing news day.
i reinstalled Security Update 2005-002 and that helped on some sites but not others.
i wasn't able to reinstall Java 1.4.2 Update 2 - it wouldn't let me, said it was already installed