PolarBar won't start up after long hiatus using current Java version

[John Gnassi]

I've just come back after several years to check on PolarBar and see there has been some development since I last checked.  So I tried to start up my old version with a copy of my last known working directory structure and have run into the following problem.

$ java -jar polarbar.zip org.polarbar.mailer
Uncaught error fetching image:
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at sun.awt.image.InputStreamImageSource.getDecoder(InputStreamImageSource.java:214)
    at sun.awt.image.URLImageSource.getDecoder(URLImageSource.java:159)
    at sun.awt.image.InputStreamImageSource.doFetch(InputStreamImageSource.java:263)
    at sun.awt.image.ImageFetcher.fetchloop(ImageFetcher.java:205)
    at sun.awt.image.ImageFetcher.run(ImageFetcher.java:169)
^C$

Note I had to ^C out of Java.  The 3 pane window never appeared.

I'm running this under OS X 10.10.4 Yosemite with the current Java SDK, Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_60-b27)

Before I go delving into the details, does anyone recognize what my issue is?  I suspect it has something to do with the changes in Java or OS X, as I have not done anything to my previously working setup.  I do have the java.policy file:

$ cat java.policy
grant { permission java.security.AllPermission; };
$


JAG

[Bob]

** Reply to message from John Gnassi <john....@gmail.com> on Tue, 1 Sep 2015
14:32:31 -0700 (PDT)

What build version of Polarbar are you using?

With newer JAVA versions you do not need the java.policy file.

--
Robert Blair

[dgh]

Here's the command line I use to start Polabar Mailer 1.26 build 2321 on Windows with the latest Java 8 (build 1.8.0_60-b27):

javaw -cp .;pbmdaily.zip;log4j-1.2.15.jar;cryptix.jar;cryptix-pgp.jar;activation.jar;mail.jar;ssecdistro.jar org.polarbar.mailer

I think you can get all of the extra jar files from the Polarbar download page.

[Bill Wild Willy]

> ** Reply to message from dgh <jsd.s...@gmail.com> on Tue, 1 Sep 2015 22:33:55 -0700 (PDT)

I am running PBM build 2324 but otherwise I am running Windows 7 and the same Java build as what
David just mentioned. But Carl made some significant changes to the Message List pane of the main
PBM window about 2 years ago. Seems to me this was in response to some architectural change in
Java. Or maybe it was in order to stop using some antique programming method that relies on
deprecated Java features. Something like that. Carl could no doubt explain it better.

In addition, when Sun transitioned to Oracle, I had some problems with Java finding itself. Used
to be that Java resided somewhere in the Program Files(x86) tree. Now, the only Java-related entry
in my system SET PATH list is this:

C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath

If you do a DIR on that directory, you'll see that it contains nothing but 3 SYMLINKs. It's a
weird architecture. I have a feeling it is a vestige of what some of the engineers inside Oracle
use to allow them to develop parts of Java in such a way that the parts can reside in different
locations. Of course, no regular civilian has his Java configured like that. To me, this is
something Oracle should have cleaned up before releasing Java to the public. In any case, the
SYMLINKs show that the directory structure for Java contains at least one subdirectory whose name
includes the build level of Java. In other words, they are renaming their directories with each
update. I suppose that's to permit multiple versions of Java to run on the same system. But to
me, it just leaves open the possibility of screwing things up. At various times during the history
I have used PBM, my script has included and omitted commands for changing the current directory.
Like this:

h:
cd PolarBar

This makes PBM run "in" the H:\PolarBar directory. But at a certain point, this prevented the
system from finding Java, which was of course not in H:\PolarBar. At the moment, I don't have any
such statements for changing the current directory.

I have had to include & remove such statements at several points over time. When you just launch a
command script, the default directory in which the script runs isn't necessarily the one you want.
PBM uses the current directory to find the PBM mail tree. On my system, my command script opens in
directory windows\system32. Well, the PBM Inbox isn't there. So I have to tell PBM explicitly
where to find the mail repository via the -d switch.

So, after all of that, here is what I run to launch PBM build 2324:

set classpath=H:\JSTREET\PolarBar.Jar;H:\JSTREET\mail.jar;H:\JSTREET\sscedistro.jar;H:\JSTREET\log4j-1.2.15.jar;H:\JSTREET\cryptix.jar;H:\JSTREET\cryptix-pgp.jar;
java -version
java org.polarbar.mailer -d H:\JSTREET\Mailer -log4j H:\JSTREET\LoggingOptions.Txt

That is 3 statements: a SET and 2 JAVA commands. I think Google may break up the CLASSPATH line
because it is long. The first JAVA command is totally optional. It just displays the Java
version, which I like to have handy just in case. Also, you can merge it all into one statement by
using the -cp switch to eliminate the SET CLASSPATH. It's all about personal taste.

I can't remember now exactly what each entry in the CLASSPATH is for. mail.jar contains certain
classes we need. I can't remember if this was slated to become part of Java & thus could be
removed at some point. I've still got it so at least it isn't causing trouble. The sscedistro
file is connected with the Spell Checker. The log4j entry is for DEBUG.OUT data. The cryptix
files are for PGP, which I don't actually use, so I don't know why I've got those entries, but
again, they aren't making trouble so I'm not changing it. All the files are available on the PBM
web site http://www.polarbar.net/pbmdaily.html.

The -log4j switch is probably optional. I added it during a dialog I had with Carl a couple of
years ago. You can probably find that dialog here in the Group archive. In any case, my
LoggingOptions.Txt file contains this:

log4j.threshold=DEBUG
log4j.loggerFactory=org.polarbar.log.LoggerFactory
log4j.rootLogger=INFO, PBMLOG
log4j.appender.PBMLOG=org.polarbar.log.InMemoryAppender
log4j.appender.PBMLOG.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.PBMLOG.layout.ConversionPattern=%d{ISO8601} %-5p [%c{1}] %m%n
log4j.logger.innoval.mailer.jstreet=INFO
log4j.logger.innoval.mailer.Filter=DEBUG
log4j.logger.innoval.mailer.FilterExecute=DEBUG
log4j.logger.innoval.mailer.FilterWrapper=DEBUG
log4j.logger.org.polarbar.gui.NewNoteListImpl=DEBUG
log4j.logger.org.polarbar.gui.ColumnListBase=DEBUG
log4j.logger.org.polarbar.gui.SortableColumnList=DEBUG

(I hope Google doesn't mangle that too badly.) Don't ask me what any of it means. Carl just gave
it to me and I have been using it. I think it generates useful things in the DEBUG.OUT file that
the developers (Carl, David, anybody else?) might find useful.

I hope something in this cess pool of ramblings helps you.

WW
GO HABS GO!
Configuration: Windows 7 Enterprise, Oracle Java build 1.8.0_60-b27 (2015/8/27), pbm1.26dev/2324

[John Gnassi]

On Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at 6:51:15 PM UTC-4, Bob wrote:

What build version of Polarbar are you using?

I can't get it to start up to ask it.  Which file contains this info?


JAG

[Bob]

** Reply to message from John Gnassi <john....@gmail.com> on Wed, 2 Sep 2015
07:13:45 -0700 (PDT)

> On Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at 6:51:15 PM UTC-4, Bob wrote:
>
> > What build version of Polarbar are you using?
> >
> I can't get it to start up to ask it. Which file contains this info?

I don't know which file contains the build number. All the files are
compressed so you can not search for the string without unzipping them.

--
Robert Blair

[Bill Wild Willy]

> ** Reply to message from John Gnassi <john....@gmail.com> on Wed, 2 Sep 2015 07:13:45 -0700 (PDT)

Unzip your PolarBar.Jar file . . . into a temporary location, of course, since you will want to
delete it when you're done. You don't need the jar file lying around all unzipped on your hard
drive. That would be a ridiculous waste of space. Then drill down the directory structure to
org\polarbar\util\Version.class. This is a binary file but you just want to open it in some text
editor, like Notepad or Wordpad. Much of the content of the file is, of course, unreadable (by
humans) gibberish, but there are some plain text strings in the file that you can read. In my
version of this file in PBM build 2324, the line showing the build number is 34 lines into the file.

That is assuming, of course, that the file exists in older versions & is located in the same place,
and I can't say whether that's true.