[conspire] (forw) Re: June/July installfest now on Centos56 continue install openjdk app

[Rick Moen]

He's still at it.

----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2011 02:25:58 -0700
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
To: wood eddie <ewood111 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: June/July installfest now on Centos56 continue install openjdk
	app
Organization: If you lived here, you'd be $HOME already.

Quoting wood eddie (ewood111 at yahoo.com):

> Thanks for reply.  I check forum where I placed question, there is now
> about 44 views with zero reply.

I'm really not surprised.  You asked what amounts to a very technical
question, and Web forums, even those aimed at the Linux community, tend
to have relatively technically competent people participating on them.

Moreover, I suspect there is another showstopper problem: the way you
worded your posting.  You wrote:

>  install openjdk app via command [ java -jar application.jar ] 

Your phrase 'openjdk app' is completely baffling.  What does it mean?
You don't bother to tell the reader.  Probably, you were attempting to
install a specific application by telling the /usr/bin/java compiler
implicitly to expand the zip archive comprising the .jar, find the
'main' class specified in the manifest file (normally
META-INF/MANIFEST.MF) and run it.  Then, for reasons not clear,
/usr/bin/java is unable to launch the wizard.  _Point is_, you didn't even
bother to tell readers what the application's name and version is, let
alone provide them with any debugging information.

How do you get debugging information in this situation?  I really don't
know, because I personally really rather dislike Java (not offence to
people who like it), and so have spent almost no time trying to figure
out how to work with it.

> I searched
> http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/2011-July/subject.html but
> does not seem to find any posting on openjdk.  Is this a correct
> mailing list for this subject question [The wizard cannot continue
> because  could not load wizard specified in /wizard.inf (184)] ?

Hell if I know.  But, you know, I have to point out some of the
drawbacks of your general approach.  First of all, I didn't say 'public
forums devoted to CentOS'.  I said 'public forums devoted to RHEL and/or
CentOS'.  Although you are not entitled to paid technical support from
Red Hat, Inc. (because you didn't buy their product), and you will be
maintaining your system by pulling down CentOS rpms via yum rather than
Red Hat rpms via Red Hat Network, still, CentOS 5.6 is literally exactly
the same as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 6, just with different
branding and independently compiled from the same source code.  So, all
RHEL community resources (other than customer-only paid ones) are
relevant to you, too.

Second, although I have no idea generally how to debug Java problems,
one obvious place to start is to Web-search the error text, e.g., 
Web-search for 

   "could not load wizard specified in /wizard.inf"

or even

   "could not load wizard specified in"

(with the quotation marks for grouping, in each case).  The '(184)' is
probably (I would speculate) a line number, and so should be omitted
from the search text.

On one of the first hits when I search that, I find this comment on a
Web forum:

  What happens when you run the installer like...

  java -Dis.debug=1 -jar setup.jar

  "could not load wizard specified in /wizard.inf" is a very generic error
  that simply indicates a generic problem loading the installer.

In fact, that same suggestion seems to turn up in many cases when Java
novices post 'Help, I'm getting "could not load wizard specified in
/wizard.inf"'.  

If you're going to be doing Java, and in particular if you're going to
be attempting to debug Java, you might have to learn some Java, e.g.,
at least look up the manpage for /usr/bin/java, which probably would
have revealed the same information about how to increase debugging
output.

I'm not going to learn that for you, because I really don't even like
the stuff.


Second point:  I'm perplexed that you didn't also attempt to ask online
Java people about your problem.  I mean, it's not very likely to be a
CentOS-specific problem at all, is it?

Third point:  You presumably know who wrote, maintains, and supports the
unnamed Java application that you're attempting to run.  Don't those
people have support resources, too?

Anyway, I really cannot help you with this.  You really need to learn
how to effectively use online help resources, and not just lean on me,
especially not in private e-mail.  Seriously.


> I could wait a little longer but eventually like a solution to problem
> encountered.  May have to install another JDK which is not openjdk.

That might solve your problem, or it might be a waste of time, screw up
your system for no actual gain, and not accomplish anything.  Point is,
you don't understand what your problem _is_, and so flailing around
blindly introducing additional variables is not a good strategy.  If I
were in your shoes, I would attempt to understand the problem before
attempting to fix it.  Throwing random software at a problem is not
diagnosis.

Also, in my earlier mail I said (emphasis added, in hopes you'll pay
attention, this time):  YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY CHECK THE DOCUMENTATION FOR
THE JAVA APPLICATION YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO INSTALL, TO MAKE SURE YOU
HAVE MET ITS DEPENDENCIES.  E.G., IT IS COMMON FOR JAVA APPLICATIONS TO
EXPECT PARTICULAR CLASS LIBRARIES OR OTHER TOOLS TO BE PRESENT.

Nobody likes to be completely ignored, even when giving away valuable
clues for free.  You should do what I suggested, because it's important
and may hold the key to your problem, and cut short the wasting of your
time.  And also of my time.  Anyway, please excuse me; I cannot continue
this individual handholding.

If you wish to join CABAL's public mailing list, I've already mentioned
where it is (http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire).  You
really need to stop sending private help-request mail to me or to any
other member of the open source community.  It's not a public-spirited
thing to do, and it is a very bad habit.  Moreover, in general, you will
be ignored, or worse, when you try it.

Last, I co-wrote many years ago an essay about how to effectively seek
help from the online technical community.  I hope it is useful to you.
http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Essays/smart-questions.html




----- End forwarded message -----