A few of our Mac users have been unable to use Matrix's asset map today. This appears to be down to a combination of an old version of OS X and a newly unsupported version of Java.
As far as we can tell, the only way to solve this is to upgrade the OS to Mountain Lion, then update Java. Don't know if this has affected anyone else, but it seemed like it could be a potential issue, and there wasn't a post about it in here.
Hi Matthew,
Are you running Java 1.6?
We've noticed this as well this morning and it seems Apple have updated on of the plist files, which sets a minimum required Java version. You'll need to upgrade to Java 7 which should resolve it although you won't be able to use it with Chrome.
You can try modifying the plist file and setting the JavaWebComponentVersionMinimum to your version of Java
kurne@kurne-mbp ~> java -version java version "1.6.0_37" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_37-b06-434-11M3909) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.12-b01-434, mixed mode)
/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/XProtect.meta.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>JavaWebComponentVersionMinimum</key> <string>1.6.0_37-b06-435</string> <key>LastModification</key> <string>Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:41:14 GMT</string>
This is a bit hacky and the file could be updated at any time so updating Java might be the safest option.
There's more info on upgrading in this thread
Regards
Kurne
I'm not on a Mac - it's a couple of my colleagues. As they're on Snow Leopard, there isn't an updated version of Java available, so it's not an option without first updating the OS as well.
Hi all,
We've been affected by this as well.
I'm going to try the 'hacky' option and see how it goes.
I assume that Java 1.7 is only compatible with OSX 10.7 (Lion) and above?
As far as I can tell, that's right. Oracle stops Java SE 6 support tomorrow anyway, but Apple disabling it through their security tool without any real warning seems a bit annoying - I know it's full of security holes, but we've now got 2 staff members who can't use Squiz until their machines are updated, which has to go through central IT department.
OK - with the hack above, we are now functional.
Will this be overwritten every day? Or every time Apple apply an update?
We do plan to upgrade to Mountain Lion so hopefully it won't affect us long term but it's definitely a worry!
Hey Leg3nd, are you using snow leopard or Lion?
It looks like the file is updated every day if it changes, although I believe this is configured via an administrator-only setting in System Preferences => Security & Privacy => Advanced - Automatically update safe downloads list.
Obviously a pretty bad idea to uncheck this permanently but it should allow you to modify the .plist file and then continue to use Java 1.6 for the interim until the machines are upgraded.
Yes, got this working. Ben's right. You have to switch off Automatic update safe downloads list otherwise it's rewritten each day. Not great security wise. We're going to upgrade to Lion/Mountain Lion instead. Roll on the non-java asset map eh?
Using Firefox I am able to bypass this issue. Just clicking the asset map activates the plugin even though there is the warning.
There are two different issues here now: the system-wide blocking of Java, which was from Apple's security update system, and Firefox's plugin block, which now insists on every Java plugin being specifically enabled before it can be used. If you're on Lion or Mountain Lion, and running Java 7, you won't get the Apple block, but will get the Firefox alert (you'll get it on Windows too, actually - it's enabled in the most recent Firefox updates and most recent Java updates). If you're on any earlier OSX version, you won't even get the Firefox warning since there is no valid version of Java, unless you've carried out the steps outlined above.
Hey Leg3nd, are you using snow leopard or Lion?
Hi Darren,
We are on Snow Leopard.
I've applied the fixes suggested by Ben but I've also been prompted for a software update from Apple.
--
Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 12 delivers improved security, reliability, and compatibility by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_39.
On systems that have not already installed Java for Mac OS X 10.6 update 9 or later, this update will configure web browsers to not automatically run Java applets. Java applets may be re-enabled by clicking the region labeled "Inactive plug-in" on a web page. If no applets have been run for an extended period of time, the Java web plug-in will deactivate.
Please quit any web browsers and Java applications before installing this update.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5575 for more details about this update.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222 for information about the security content of this update.
--
Should I apply this update or will this break it again?
G'day … this doesn't help answer anyone's questions (sorry!) but Java seems like a real problem here, running on OS X 10.8.3, Java 1.7 and Matrix 4.12.6.
The Matrix admin interface now doesn't work at all in Chrome, doesn't work in Opera, isn't usable in Safari (form text fields can't be edited), and only barely works in Firefox (functions that involve communication between the centre frame and the asset map don't work: such as the "Show in Asset Map" button).
My colleagues who use Windows machines have more options but are still getting "applet blocked" messages every time they use the "Insert a link" button in the rich text editor, and we're having to spend more and more time helping staff with Java-related problems.
Matrix is excellent in so many respects, so it's a shame that it's grinding down towards being totally unusable due to reliance on Java, and we're having to start considering our alternatives.
Warwick
Matrix is excellent in so many respects, so it's a shame that it's grinding down towards being totally unusable due to reliance on Java, and we're having to start considering our alternatives.
I agree that the reliance on Java is becoming a huge problem. But, if you have access to Squiz Roadmap you can see that they are working on an alternate Asset Map for Matrix. No clue about the timeline, but I know it is in the works.
As Nick mentioned, our Labs team are working hard on getting a replacement for the asset map, but when this will be ready is not clear. It'll be soon though.
As mentioned in my post above, if you're able to run Java 1.6.0_37; everything actually works again. Obviously this is potentially a huge security risk so you should be careful.
Kurne