Download the OpenSolaris Build presentation [in PDF format]

I have installed the following Sun-related software:

• VirtualBox 2.1.4 on my Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit PC
• created a virtual machine from an OpenSolaris 2008.11 DVD I had received via mail by Sun for free using VirtualBox
• had to download Sun Studio 11 in my OpenSolaris install since it came completely bare (no compilers, nothing.)

After that, I had to download the OpenOffice.org source code that I would be using (DEV300_m42) which was made open source by Sun too.

I had some previous experiences with virtualization:

• VMware Workstation [Was just becoming free around the time I tried it]
  • Option overkill for what I wanted. Since this was the first time I had used virtual machines it scared me away a bit. VMware is the gorilla of virtualization from what I’ve seen and heard from smart people.
• Microsoft Virtual PC [Free from Microsoft]
  • The easiest setup-and-play experience for any Windows-friendly operating system (Windows, DOS, OS/2). Running Windows within Windows is amazing on this; you have complete clipboard sharing, native display settings, shared folders, host device usage (printers, USB, etc.)… it’s pretty sweet. But it wouldn’t cut it for OpenSolaris. To be fair, things may have changed and perhaps OpenSolaris would’ve worked on Virtual PC but I wanted to try something new.

Reading some information about OOo development and OpenSolaris made me aware of another Sun project called VirtualBox. I did some research into it and it turns out to be a fantastic virtualization product. So I downloaded it (version 2.1.4) and began setting up  OpenSolaris 2008.11 from the DVD I had received. Bad idea.

One of the benefits of using virtualization software is that you can “cheat” through various means when installing a guest operating system. Instead of using optical media (CDs, DVDs) you should opt to mount an ISO image (usually files with the .ISO extension) from a hard drive. This will save you a lot of time. (At the least, some time. Your mileage may vary.) It took me just under 60 minutes to perform a default install of OpenSolaris.

After going through the lists I’ve decided on completing the OpenSolaris build documentation. I have two main reasons:

1. I wouldn’t mind learning more about the build system
2. It would be an excuse to use OpenSolaris and see what’s so different about it from other *nix variants
   • this would also include another foray into virtualization

The others in my class will also post the projects they claim on the OOo Project List page of the Open Source @ Seneca / CDOT wiki.

After installing OpenOffice.org 3.0.1 (OOo for short) without the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) (filename: OOo_3.0.1_Win32Intel_install_en-US.exe), the option to register my copy had come up but the regular wizard did not run as expected. I had forgotten to install the JRE since I recently reformatted my PC. Oops.

Regardless, I wanted to see just how much functionality was missing from OOo and so I opened up the OpenOffice.org launch application. First, I tried to use the Registration wizard again, but I got the following error below:

Error message when JRE is not installed

I’m glad I got this error, as it confirmed that OpenOffice.org knew that the JRE was not installed. But before I installed the JRE, I wanted to try out what else wouldn’t work and the only thing I found that wouldn’t work properly was OpenOffice.org Base, the database application. I could select what database I wanted to create or open, but the application itself would not load; I was simply in a wizard. My problem with OOo Base is that it had no error message to alert the user as to why it wasn’t opening. A silent failure.

Enough play, I thought; it was time to install the Java SE Development Kit (JDK) (NOTE: You could have just as well installed the regular JRE, but I do some Java development from time-to-time so I require the JDK’s tools). I selected the JDK 6 Update 12 x64 installer for 64-bit Windows (filename: jdk-6u12-windows-x64-p.exe). Installation went perfectly, and I even rebooted just to make sure all environmental variables were set.

Once again, I booted up the OOo launcher and selected the Registration icon… but I was met with the same error as above! I did some digging in the OOo directory tree, but I did not have enough time to go through the OOo directories (a file tree is available here) (NOTE: this is the Windows directory structure) and figure out how to hook up the JRE to it. If the only remedy is to re-install OpenOffice.org, I would consider this a problem in usability. I still need to investigate this further to make sure I did not miss anything.

Problems Encountered / Investigation Needed

1. OpenOffice.org Base fails to launch and display an error when the JRE is not installed (or detected)
2. OOo does not detect the JRE after installation
   • Problem with 64-bit libraries?
   • Windows-specific error?

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UPDATE

On 23 March 2009, Java 6 Update 13 was released which has fixed the Java detection issue with OpenOffice.org.

Once the Java 1.6.0_13 Update is installed, you can select which Java Runtime you wish to use from the Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Java menu in any instance of OOo. From my limited reading on the subject, this was a problem with the technique to detect a JRE on a Windows machine by only checking that certain environmental variables were set. I wonder if this is still bug-worthy.