10/31/2007

 

MAC OS X 10.5 Leopard Compatibility

 

We have had several reports of startup issues with MAC OS X 10.5 Leopard that came out last Friday.  Apple integrated a later version of Java 1.5, the same base Java that was in 10.4, into Leopard.

 

We issued an update for the ROES Client when Leopard first became available for a few minor appearance and function issues we found, however the program is working fine from what we have seen.  Our testing involved a fresh install of the OS from the retail DVD, an upgrade from 10.4 using the Apple Developer release via download, and an upgrade from 10.4 using the retail DVD.

 

The fresh install to a clean disk ROES works fine as each initial attempt was a fresh startup from a web link.  We have uncovered an issue with the upgrade installs when using the shortcuts from 10.4.  It appears that the saved desktop shortcuts do not appear to be linked properly to the older Java cache from 10.4, and clicking them does not start anything.  However, we were able to start ROES using the Java cache window, where the launch of the saved application was treated as a fresh start - downloading the ROES files and then running as normal.  This can be found by going into Finder, selecting Applications, then Utilities, then Java, and opening the Java Web Start app.   

 

Using the Java Web Start to launch ROES appeared to re-link the Java cache, as the old shortcuts worked again after the application had been run once from the cache window.  We will continue to test the ROES Client in OS X 10.5 to look for any other issues.

 

The ROES Retail applet and ROES Stand Alone Server also are working as expected, for the ROES Stand Alone Server the same method of startup (using Java Web Start) is advised, with the saved shortcut from 10.4 responding again after the initial launch from the application cache.

 

We have not encountered any OS-level errors like a few reports have mentioned, where the startup fails and generates a report that can be sent to Apple.  If these should still occur launching from Java Web Start, we advise the users to re-install the 10.5 upgrade, as something is failing at the operating system level that shouldn't.

 

 

SoftWorks Systems Team