Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Rhino Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer Subject: Re: Can't get [any jar files] to run any more Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2017 16:31:22 -0400 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 88 Message-ID: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2017 20:27:28 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="ee1be123b1aa3fc8d56176df342e3151"; logging-data="3620"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+KKrVu9FmUwE4G+XN76CCLHnPhko71MOA=" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/52.2.1 In-Reply-To: X-Antivirus-Status: Clean Content-Language: en-US X-Antivirus: Avast (VPS 170715-0, 2017-07-15), Outbound message Cancel-Lock: sha1:CiS87A8KpXDr8ngIRCqgl0fpmqw= Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.java.programmer:36954 On 2017-07-15 3:52 PM, Martin Gregorie wrote: > On Sat, 15 Jul 2017 12:15:37 -0400, Rhino wrote: > >> I'm game to give it a try though. Before I do, let me run something past >> you (meaning everyone following this thread). I'm starting to think one >> or more environment variables are messed up. I made some changes to my >> environment variables a few days before this trouble started as a result >> of some *other* trouble I'd been having and Eclipse worked fine after >> that. It was only a few days later that this mysterious problem began. I >> assumed that meant the environment variables *couldn't* be at fault. But >> it occurs to me now that the problem began right after I rebooted >> Windows the first time after changing the environment variables. I >> normally just close the lid on my laptop at that end of my day rather >> than rebooting Windows so I only end up rebooting Windows a couple of >> times a month. I normally don't think of that much as it's never been a >> problem. Now I'm thinking that I messed up one or more of the >> environment variables and *this* is the actual cause of the problem! I >> just hadn't made the connection because of the delayed Windows reboot. >> >> First of all, does that seem plausible? I'm afraid I've forgotten when >> environment variable changes come into effect: is it immediately after >> clicking on Apply as I'd thought or only after the next Windows reboot? >> If it's the latter, that may very well be the cause of my problem. >> > Rule number one is *NEVER* make changes to system-level environment > variables and the file that hold the definitions without making copies > and putting them where they'll get backed up and can survive a cold boot. > I definitely broke *that* rule ;-) Then again, this is the first time I've ever heard that advice given specifically for environment variables. Of course I have heard it many times in more general terms like "always back up important stuff before you make changes". It's just that I'd never had a significant problem like this after making environment variable changes so I didn't realize I was opening myself up to such a can of worms. Unfortunately, it's water under the bridge. I'm still trying to figure out what I should do now to get things back into a state where Eclipse runs again. >> Second, if the environment variable change only takes effect after a >> Windows reboot, which variables might be the culprit? At this point, >> nearly two weeks after touching the environment variables in the first >> place, I've forgotten exactly which one(s) I adjusted. Can someone point >> me to material that tells me which ones are important and how they >> should be set for Windows 10 (64-bit) and an Eclipse that is Mars.2 or >> newer? >> > I think that depends: configuration stuff that is local to a user or gets > regenerated at login time will either 'just be there' or will get > refreshed by logging off and on again. Anything which affects the system > as a whole is more likely to need a reboot to take effect. > > But, I can't be more specific than that because I dumped Windows for > RedHat Linux about the time that Win95 was being dumbed down into Win98. > > Dropping Windows is one of the best decisions I've ever made. > I'm sympathetic to what you're saying, I really am. I was an OS/2 loyalist for several years and would probably still be on it if IBM hadn't given up on it. I have some Linux experience and am not completely adverse to using it but the last time I considered it, there were too many things I couldn't do in Linux because there simply were no apps - or at least readily affordable apps - for functions I needed. That was several years back so I don't honestly remember *what* functions those were at least a couple of them were critical to me. I was not - and still am not - keen on having to have to split things I wanted to do between multiple computers or multiple partitions on a computer. Much of my work stuff can ONLY be done in Windows (and IE/Edge) so I don't have much of a choice right now. But maybe I should put Linux on my spare laptop and see if I can live with it, at least for a development environment. I imagine there are a lot more apps for Linux these days. Then again, if I try Arne's advice and just reinstall the JRE/JDK one more time - and try to undo the environment variable changes I made (if I can only remember what I did!) - maybe I'll get Eclipse working on Windows again. I'm not the world's most decisive guy, especially when faced with several good options, each with their own pros and cons.... -- Rhino