JRE Install types? How to tell?

[cameramonkey]

We are needing to make sure a certain version if JRE is installed as static. All new deployments we can guarantee the install type as static.

How do we tell if any existing installs are installed in static mode?

I see lots of references to static, family, and consumer install types, but nowhere do I see a straightforward way to tell how an existing install is configured.

 

[Diancecht]

I don't know the exact keywords, bout having a look at registry keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft may help

Cheers,
Dian

 

[TonHu]

What platform?

 

[cameramonkey]

The Windows Platform.

 

[TonHu]

Simple procedure:
- Locate the default Java install, and check the (file) version of java.dll.

Any decent installer should be able to do that, maybe using some scripting/programming.

 

[Diancecht]

Tonhu, with that you can find out the Java version, same info you can have from command line with java -version, but that won't show (at least for my eyes) if installation is static or not.

Cheers,
Dian

 

[TonHu]

I'd actually be interested to know what a 'static install' is intended to mean?
I know about static and dynamic linking, both on Unix/Linux and Windows, but don't see this having any relevance to a JRE install.

In our installs we include a known, tried and tested (with our applications) JRE, in a subdirectory of our application-suites. If a specific version of a JRE is required by your application, then that is the best solution: Include that desired JRE/JDK, and run your application using it.

 

[cameramonkey]

TonHu, we are using a Time and Attendance browser based app that runs from an intranet web server. The app doesnt get installed client side.

"Static Install" is designed just for this occasion. It means that any subsequent installs of future JREs will NOT overwrite it. In the past they were ALL static, and if you ran 5 different installers over the course of a year, you would have 5 different versions installed. This caused security issues as it would not replace a JRE with a known security flaw.

Effective J6 update 10, JRE installs in such a way that it upgrades previous non static installs of the JRE, wiping away any traces of potential security issues.

So now if you are in the position we are you must override the default and install a static copy of the JRE to prevent it from being overwritten by subsequent installs of the JRE.

 

[MoreFeo]

It's the first time I've heard about static installation, but I've found this:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/jre-install-137694.html

It says that static installation usually uses the full version in the path.
For example:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.6.0_22

And non static (patch-in-place installation) only uses the minor version number.
For example:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6

In my case I've got a patch-in-place installation, and this is the output from java -version:
java version "1.6.0_22"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_22-b04)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 17.1-b03, mixed mode, sharing)

Perhaps in a static installation the output is different but I don't know.