Symptoms

When a jnlp is run from the web, the jnlp file is not opened by the Java Web Start Application. Instead TextEdit or some other program opens the file.

Cause

About half the people applying the Java Update 4 for OS X 10.5 released by Apple on June 15, 2009, lose the Finder association between a jnlp file and the Java Web Start application. The actual cause for this problem is still unknown.

Solution

In the Finder open the folder /System/Library/CoreServices that contains the actual Java Web Start.app application. The Mac OS X application registration system will then automatically update the registration database it uses to associate the .jnlp extension and the appropriate mime type with the Java Web Start application.

Links

• http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2041599
• http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2044081
• http://lists.apple.com/archives/java-dev/2009/Jun/msg00228.html

Apple bug number

We reported this problem to Apple. The bug report id: #6985383.

Unfortunately Apple does not make it's bug report database public. We still don't know when or if Apple will fix this problem.