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INTERNAL/REVIEW: Help systems for ENVI 4.6.1/4.6 or IDL 7.0.6 on Mac, Linux, Solaris won't launch (Java dependency)

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[Needs to be reviewed for Compliance and IP issues (i.e. .gz files are included with binary files)]


Topic:

The ENVI and IDL Help systems that come with both 64-bit and 32-bit ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 and IDL 7.0.6, are are dependent upon 32-bit Java on the host machine. If a compatible version of Java is not installed, or Java is not installed at all, then the ENVI and IDL help will fail with an error or will not launch at all.

Note: We recommend that 32-bit JRE 1.5.0_11 be used with the ENVI 4.6/4.6.1 and IDL 7.0.6 Help systems, since this JRE version has been tested and is known to be compatible. It has been reported that there are other versions of JRE are not compatible. For example, we have received reports that most versions of JRE 1.6.0_* won't work with the ENVI 4.6/4.6.1 and IDL 7.0.6 Help systems. If you run into problems when using a JRE version other than 1.5.0_11, we recommend that you follow the instructions below to download and installl JRE 1.5.0_11 to use with the ENVI 4.6/4.6.1 and IDL 7.0.6 Help systems.

Additionally, ENVI Help and IDL Help can fail when a user on Mac OS X, Linux, or Solaris systems has a single network-based home directory that is used when logged into different machines.

This Tech Tip discusses approaches to get ENVI and IDL Help for ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 and IDL 7.0.6 working when it will not launch on Mac OS X, Linux and Solaris systems.

Related Tech Tip Articles:

  1. CONFIGURING ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 AND IDL 7.0.6 HELP TO USE A SPECIFIC VERSION OF JAVA

    1. Download and install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 5.0 update 11.
    2. Specify the JRE to use with ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 and IDL 7.0.6 Help systems.

      1. Install patch TT4442 to specify a java version for the ENVI Help system or the IDL Help system.
      2. Modify the PATH environment variable.
  2. CONFIGURING ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 AND IDL 7.0.6 HELP FOR USE WITH A NETWORK-BASED HOME DIRECTORY

  3. TROUBLESHOOTING

Discussion:

  1. CONFIGURING ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 AND IDL 7.0.6 HELP TO USE A SPECIFIC VERSION OF JAVA

    If attempting to start ENVI Help or IDL Help on Linux or Solaris fails with an error or you receive no response, try the following steps to configure these help systems. Note that root or sudo privileges may be required to complete these steps.

    Macintosh Systems
    The Macintosh Operating system supplies its own version of the JRE. No additional configuration should be necessary. If the Help system does not open, review also section B of this article. If needed, contact your local office or distributor for technical support assistance.

    1. Download and install the 32-bit Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 5.0 update 11.

      Note: If your system already has a compatible JRE version such as verion 5.0 update 11 (JRE 1.5.0_11), proceed to configuring ENVI Help initialization file to use the installed Java version.

      IMPORTANT: We recommend that 32-bit JRE 1.5.0_11 be used with the ENVI 4.6/4.6.1 and IDL 7.0.6 Help systems, since this JRE version has been tested and is known to be compatible. It has been reported that there are other versions of JRE are not compatible. For example, we have received reports that most versions of JRE 1.6.0_* won't work with the ENVI 4.6/4.6.1 and IDL 7.0.6 Help systems. If you run into problems when using a JRE version other than 1.5.0_11, we recommend that you follow the instructions below to download and installl JRE 1.5.0_11 to use with the ENVI 4.6/4.6.1 and IDL 7.0.6 Help systems.

      Note: If running on 64-bit Linux or Solaris systems, there may only be a 64-bit JRE installed, but not a 32-bit JRE. The IDL workbench, IDL Help and ENVI Help always require a 32-bit JRE. If you encounter the error "JVM terminated. Exit code=-1", it may be caused by the missing 32-bit JRE and it will be necessary to install a 32-bit JRE on the system and then to configure the help system as described later in this article.

      A compatible version of the JRE is a free download available directly from Sun Microsystems at:

      Be sure to install the 32-bit version of the JRE. For example, for Linux, download and install:

        jre-1_5_0_11-linux-i586.bin
        -or-
        jre-1_5_0_11-linux-i586-rpm.bin

      rather than:

        jre-1_5_0_11-linux-amd64-rpm.bin
        -or-
        jre-1_5_0_11-linux-amd64.bin

    2. Specify the JRE to use with ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 and IDL 7.0.6 Help systems.

      This section lists two alternative approaches to make the ENVI Help and IDL Help systems for ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 and IDL 7.0.6 use a specific version of the JRE installed on a Linux or Solaris machine. The first approach, described in section A2a, involves installing a technical support patch. The second approach, described in section A2b, involves modifying the PATH system environment variable to specify the java version

      1. Install patch TT4442 to specify a java version for the ENVI Help system or the IDL Help system.

        If you would like to specify a JRE version installation to be used with *all* ENVI Help or IDL Help sessions on Linux or Solaris that are launched from a specific ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 or IDL 7.0.6 installation, then download and install TT4442 Technical Support patch file:

        Note: Installing patch TT4442 and configuring a specific "java" file version will override the approach described in section A2b, below, for modifying the PATH system environment variable to specify the version of Java to use with the ENVI and IDL help systems.

        Instructions to install Technical Support patch TT4442
        Note: Root or sudo privileges may be required to complete these instructions.

        1. Download the file tt4442_patch.tar.gz ( for ENVI 4.6 or IDL 7.0.6 ) or tt4442_patch_envi461.tar.gz ( for ENVI 4.6.1 ) and copy the file to the ITT product installation directory for your ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 or IDL 7.0.6 installation, for example:

            /usr/local/itt/tt4442_patch_envi461.tar.gz
            -or-
            /usr/local/itt/tt4442_patch.tar.gz
        2. From the directory above the "idl706" directory of the ENVI 4.6 or IDL 7.0.6 installation, or above the idl708 directory for ENVI 4.6.1, unpack the TT4442 patch file, for example:

            cd /usr/local/itt
            sudo gunzip ./tt4442_patch_envi461.tar.gz
            sudo tar xvf ./tt4442_patch_envi461.tar

            -or-

            cd /usr/local/itt
            sudo gunzip ./tt4442_patch.tar.gz
            sudo tar xvf ./tt4442_patch.tar
        3. Complete the patch installation by running the "install_tt4442_patch" or "install_tt4442_patch_envi461" command from the same directory as in step (ii). For example:

            sudo ./install_tt4442_patch
            -or-
            sudo ./install_tt4442_patch_envi461
        4. Follow the instruction prompts to complete the Java version configuration for a Linux and/or Solaris installation of ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 or IDL 7.0.6.

        Uninstalling Patch TT4442

        To uninstall patch TT4442, issue the patch command with using a -revert switch from the directory above the ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 or IDL 7.0.6 installation, for example:

          cd /usr/local/itt
          sudo ./install_tt4442_patch_envi461 -revert

          -or-

          cd /usr/local/itt
          sudo ./install_tt4442_patch -revert


      2. Modify the PATH environment variable.

        Modify the PATH system environment variable to include the directory path to the JRE installation containing the target "java" program. It is very important to prepend the new JRE path to the PATH environment variable in order to override any incorrect paths that may already be defined in the variable.

        For example, suppose the target "java" program exists in the directory:

          /usr/java/jre1.5.0_11/bin

        From a Bash shell prepend the new target path with a command like:

          export PATH=/usr/java/jre1.5.0_11/bin:$PATH

        From a C shell prepend the new target path with a command like:

          setenv PATH /usr/java/jre1.5.0_11/bin:$PATH

        Notice that the new path is added to the existing PATH definition, separated by a colon (:) character without any white space before or after the colon. After doing this, the command:

          which java

        should, in this example, return something like:

          /usr/java/jre1.5.0_11/bin/java

        To automatically include this PATH definition to the target JRE directory every time a new shell is opened, append the relevant shell command from above to your shell dot-resource file, such as .bashrc for Bash shell or .cshrc for C shell or tcsh shell or .tcshrc file for tcsh shell.

    After installing and configuring the JRE, the ENVI Help and IDL Help systems should work as expected.

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  2. CONFIGURING ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 AND IDL 7.0.6 HELP FOR USE WITH A NETWORK-BASED HOME DIRECTORY

    ENVI Help and IDL Help can also fail to launch when a user on Mac OS X, Linux, or Solaris systems is access the same network-based home directory when logged into different machines. Such a single network home directory configuration may cause IDL or ENVI Help to fail to launch. To avoid this problem when using a network based home directory, you will need to install

    Installation of the TT4442 patch is discussed in section A2a of this article. (Note that this patch will allow the use of ENVI Help and IDL Help by a user with network-based home directory, not only on Linux or Solaris, but also on Mac OS X.)

    Note: If there is no problem with the Java configuration for ENVI or IDL Help, then installing patch TT4442 without configuring a custom Java version will simply resolve the network-based home directory problem, without affecting Java access.

    After configuring the idlhelp and envihelp startapp shell script files, the ENVI Help and IDL Help systems should work as expected.

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  3. TROUBLESHOOTING

    If you have installed a JRE and have modified your PATH environment variable or have installed/configured patch TT4442, but ENVI Help or IDL Help for ENVI 4.6.1, ENVI 4.6 and IDL 7.0.6 still does not launch, the following information might be relevant:

    • Some versions of JRE may not be fully compatible with the ENVI and IDL Help systems. If an incompatible version of JRE is suspected, install 32-bit JRE version 1.5.0_11 as described in the steps above in section A1. Then using the instructions in section A2a above, reconfigure the TT4442 patch to specify the "java" program from this specific version of the JRE by re-running the "install_tt4442_patch" script or "install_tt4442_patch_envi461" script, or as described in section A2b, redefine the PATH environment variable in your shell.
    • If running on 64-bit Linux or Solaris systems, there may only be a 64-bit JRE installed, but not a 32-bit JRE. The IDL workbench, IDL Help and ENVI Help always require a 32-bit JRE. If you encounter the error:

        JVM terminated. Exit code=-1

      the problem may be caused by the missing 32-bit JRE (Java Virtual Machine or JVM) and, as mentioned before, it will be necessary to install a 32-bit JRE on the system as described in section A1 above, and then configure it as described in section A2 of this article.

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