IcedTea Java Web Start fails to open .jnlp file

with openjdk-6:

Exception in thread "Volume Viewer" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/media/opengl/GLEventListener
 at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
 at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:634)
 at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
 at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:277)
 at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$000(URLClassLoader.java:73)
 at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:212)
 at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
 at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:205)
 at net.sourceforge.jnlp.runtime.JNLPClassLoader.findClass(JNLPClassLoader.java:1499)
 at net.sourceforge.jnlp.runtime.JNLPClassLoader.loadClassExt(JNLPClassLoader.java:1526)
 at net.sourceforge.jnlp.runtime.JNLPClassLoader.loadClass(JNLPClassLoader.java:1341)
 at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredMethods0(Native Method)
 at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredMethods(Class.java:2444)
 at java.lang.Class.getMethod0(Class.java:2687)
 at java.lang.Class.getMethod(Class.java:1620)
 at net.sourceforge.jnlp.Launcher.launchApplication(Launcher.java:576)
 at net.sourceforge.jnlp.Launcher$TgThread.run(Launcher.java:889)

Tested on a laptop atm (packages are up-to-date on both machines).
A click on .jnlp file opens the dialog and suggests to open it with java webstart.
The file will be downloaded to /tmp, after notification of successful download nothing happens.

Although there is no java -6* installed .xsession-errors says something else when trying to open the file with icedtea webstart:
/usr/bin/javaws: Zeile 66: /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java: No such file or directory

Same output when running in a terminal:
~$ ICEDTEAPLUGIN_DEBUG= firefox
ACR (Component): component init
Running global cleanup code from study base classes.
/usr/bin/javaws: line 66: /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java: No such file or directory

ii icedtea-7-jre-cacao 7~u3-2.1.1~pre1-1ubuntu1
ii icedtea-7-jre-jamvm 7~u3-2.1.1~pre1-1ubuntu1
ii icedtea-7-plugin 1.2-2ubuntu1
ii icedtea-netx 1.2-2ubuntu1
ii icedtea-netx-common 1.2-2ubuntu1

ii openjdk-7-jre 7~u3-2.1.1~pre1-1ubuntu1
ii openjdk-7-jre-headless 7~u3-2.1.1~pre1-1ubuntu1
ii openjdk-7-jre-lib 7~u3-2.1.1~pre1-1ubuntu1

No alternatives, nothing to configure.
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea7 2.1.1pre) (7~u3-2.1.1~pre1-1ubuntu1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 22.0-b10, mixed mode)

There is still an openjdk-6* folder in /usr/lib/jvm/ and /etc/alternatives/javaws points to it. (screenshots)
Obviously openjdk-6* wasn't really purged as expected.

Due to .xsession-errors output of /usr/bin/javaws I've adjusted lines 3 and 9 to openjdk-7*.
Successful result, icedtea webstart donwloads the files.

Volumeviewer still doesn't run due to security concerns. (attached debug file)
Sweethome3d runs successfully after icedtea webstart downloads referring files. (screenshot)

Expected.
Purge packages completely as requested incl. libraries.
Update alternatives links properly when there is only one alternative and nothing to configure.
java-1.7.0-openjdk-amd64 1051 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-amd64

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

This could be the answer. The /usr/bin/javaws file from openjdk-7-plugins is looking for the openjdk-7 runtime:

kemel@torresmo:~$ head /usr/bin/javaws

#!/bin/bash

JAVA=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java
LAUNCHER_BOOTCLASSPATH="-Xbootclasspath/a:/usr/share/icedtea-web/netx.jar"
LAUNCHER_FLAGS=-Xms8m
CLASSNAME=net.sourceforge.jnlp.runtime.Boot
BINARY_LOCATION=/usr/bin/javaws
PROGRAM_NAME=javaws
CP=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-amd64/jre/lib/rt.jar

I have changed it for:

#!/bin/bash

JAVA=/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java
LAUNCHER_BOOTCLASSPATH="-Xbootclasspath/a:/usr/share/icedtea-web/netx.jar"
LAUNCHER_FLAGS=-Xms8m
CLASSNAME=net.sourceforge.jnlp.runtime.Boot
BINARY_LOCATION=/usr/bin/javaws
PROGRAM_NAME=javaws
CP=/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/jre/lib/rt.jar

and it seems to be fixed

This bug is still present in quantal, and the above fix works. For the newbies, you need to
- Press Alt+F2
- enter the following (without paranthesis): "gksudo gedit /usr/bin/javaws"
- enter your password
- Change the "7" in the first line to a "6"
- Save and quit

...obviously, I ment: Without double quotes, not without paranthesis.

The above workaround will break every time the package is updated. The correct workaround (in line with what Sam_ posted) is:
sudo update-alternatives --config javaws
and then choose the number in front of /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/javaws

Of course, this doesn't change the fact that this is a bug that needs to be fixed. Specifically, the packages should provide the package manager with the necessary hints so that the alternatives are always set right (if I understand the software stack correctly).

Ran into this while trying to switch to openjdk 7 on a number of machines. You can get rid of the old javaws-alternative using
 update-alternatives --remove javaws /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/javaws
It will then automatically use the openjdk-7 version.

I also hit this bug trying to switch from OpenJDK 6 to 7. The solution in comment #12 worked for me and IMHO is the best solution as it avoids hacking script files which will be overwritten by any future package updates.

This looks like a simple bug caused by one of the openjdk-6-* packages not cleaning up after itself properly, can we get it fixed?

To Fix this prob perform this steps
1. install java-7-oracle

sudo apt-get purge openjdk*

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/oracle-java7-installer*
sudo apt-get purge oracle-java7-installer*
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*java*
sudo apt-get update

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

Update /usr/bin/javaws

sudo cp /usr/bin/javaws /usr/bin/javaws.old

vi /usr/bin/javaws

change 2 parameters like this:
JAVA=/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/java
CP=/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/lib/rt.jar

Have fun!!!

On ubuntu 12.04.4 (precise), I was able to run a *.jnlp from Firefox (26.0+build2-0ubuntu0.12.04.2) only after manually configuring update-alternatives to use javaws from openjdk-7:

# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS
Release: 12.04
Codename: precise

# update-alternatives --config javaws
There are 2 choices for the alternative javaws (providing /usr/bin/javaws).

  Selection Path Priority Status
------------------------------------------------------------
  0 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/javaws 1061 auto mode
  1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/javaws 1061 manual mode
* 2 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/javaws 1060 manual mode

Press enter to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number: 2

# dpkg -S /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/javaws /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/javaws
icedtea-netx: /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/javaws
icedtea-netx: /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/javaws

# apt-cache policy icedtea-netx
icedtea-netx:
  Installed: 1.2.3-0ubuntu0.12.04.3
  Candidate: 1.2.3-0ubuntu0.12.04.3
  Version table:
 *** 1.2.3-0ubuntu0.12.04.3 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.2-2ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages

Now it's working fine for me :-)

Best regards,
Herbert.