Beware Java For Mac OS X 10.4 Release 5

2007 March 31
tags: ColdFusion · Java · OS X
by Paul Marcotte

ColdFusion developers on Mac take note. Updating Java to J2SE Relase 5 will cause a "CFCServlet must be initialized" error when you use Application.cfc. Normally, I don't go hunting down the next version of Java to install, I simply neglected to uncheck this install during a recent Software Update.

If you have updated and are currently seeking a fix, my temp fix is to change the CurrentJDK symbolic link under /System/Library/frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions back to 1.4.2 (which, by the way was also update, but at least still works!).If you haven't messed with symlinks much, run the following commands in a terminal window.

Change directory to where Java frameworks are installed.

cd /System/Library/frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions

Remove the symbolic link.

sudo rm CurrentJDK

Create a new symlink to the 1.4 branch.

sudo ln -s 1.4 CurrentJDK

While I agree that this is a less than optimal workaround, I didn't want to eat up hours, days, or weeks chasing a better solution.I have tried using Jared Rypka-Hauer's CFMXLauncher to no avail. I prefer to virtualhost my dev site with Apache and it just wasn't working out.

If you have a suggestion, or have solved this problem in a more elegant manner, I'd love to hear from you...