NineChime forum

Waccoon wrote:

Incidentally, I'm using Windows XP 32-bit with Service Pack 3.  Java 7 seems to work fine.

The proper place to download Java is from http://www.Java.com , and Java 6 is still the only version available there.  I find it unlikely that people will accidentally download the beta version.

Correct. I have Win2K SP 4 on this desktop PC, the laptop that I have has Windows XP SP3. Java 6 is most likely going to be the last version that will support this platform and will continue to be supported until Java 6 hits EOL sometime in July 2012.

Again, because Java 7 is buggy right now, I wouldn't recommend using it until further notice. I'm gonna try the Java 7 GA in a Windows XP VMware machine soon to see what I can come up with.

Edit: I updated the FAQ regarding the issues with running oekaki applets under Java 7. More information regarding Java 7 will follow as additional information warrants.

Waccoon wrote:

I just downloaded the Java 7 U2 developer pre-release, and it seems to be running the applets fine.  I'll keep an eye on future problems.

Fair enough. But still people would at least avoid using Java 7 probably for the rest of this year. The system requirements are a bit misleading right now, because Java 7 has not yet been officially tested on Windows XP SP2 (which is believed to be the earliest supported OS and service pack since it is compiled with MSVC 2010) and Windows Server 2003 SP1 (or SP2).

Waccoon wrote:

Java 7 is not officially out yet, so the compatibility issues might be resolved by the time it's released.  Oracle has gotten a lot of heat from developers about these optimization issues.

I haven't tried Java 7 yet specifically for these reasons, though I should probably stop being lazy and try it out.

Chibi Paint is a no-brainer, since I have the full source code for it.  I can just re-compile it and see what happens.  There's a few features I'd like to add to it, too, such as automatically handling the layers file and getting rid of that confusing requester when people send pictures.

PaintBBS can likely be fixed, too.  I've de-compiled the source code and made successful builds for newer versions of Java.  I've never been able to contact Shi-Chan for official permission to do this, which is why I canceled the last unofficial build I made a few years ago.  If PaintBBS is not compatible with Java7, I will take another look at an unofficial, minimally modified version of PaintBBS.

ShiPainter may not work.  I can't de-compile the source correctly (with multiple de-compilers), so making a new build would be difficult.

OekakiBBS is dead.  It contained a security lockout feature that hasn't worked right for years, and it was designed to work with Microsoft's version of Java, anyway, which was discontinued a long time ago.

Thank you so much for the heads up. It would be worth it to try out Java 7 to see if oekaki applets will work correctly or not.

Oracle is even expected to release Java 8 by October 2012, which will most likely be the last version of Java to work on Windows XP. It's unclear to me whatever the compatibility issues will be fixed by the time the first update for Java 7 is out. Oracle also has received a lot of bad reputation over its system requirements regarding Java 7 as when it was in beta; at that time, developers used a template to call out the supported OSes that were later "certified". On their page, they don't even list Windows Server 2003 as a supported OS either.

Java 7 was complied using Visual C++ 2010 SP1 and as such, the CRT binaries included requires at least Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1.

As for OekakiBBS, do you have any idea what were the (hard-coded) security lockout features that failed to work right? If people wanted to use OekakiBBS, then they should use Microsoft Java and not retouch the drawing. I don't know if there is a way to make OekakiBBS 2.83 work as ironically, it is still used on the Japanese OekakiBBS-hosted website. Microsoft stopped supporting its version of Java on 30 June 2009 and security updates associated with it were removed.

Obviously enough, oekaki boards were designed for legacy browsers and operating systems as early as Windows 95 (possibly Windows NT 3.51 if Netscape Communicator 4.8 is used). I remember when oekakies were new and people who were on Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000 and even Windows XP and even Windows Vista used over the years. Sadly, people moved on and Windows XP is sadly being phased out.

Due to all of this, I fear that if at least one of the oekaki applets are not updated to support Java 7, then oekaki boards could be in danger of dying due to problems with Java 7 (and even Java 8), Java 6 facing EOL and future versions of browsers not supporting Java 6 anymore.

Java 7 was released on 28 July 2011 and it is the first major update to Java in almost five years. Java 6 recently reached the EOL transition period this past February and Oracle will stop supporting it after July 2012.

On the FAQ page (FAQ #4g) of my oekaki website, I have stated that due to numerous bugs that are still found in Java 7, oekaki applets have not been tested at this time and may not work correctly.

Is there a way to implement modifications to the code to make oekaki applets compatible with Java 7? If so, how would this be done?