Different behavior of javaws with and without a detailed option

Question

Different behavior of javaws with and without a detailed option

I am experiencing a rather mysterious problem with the javaws utility and do not know how to proceed with the investigation of the root cause.

Here is the information I managed to collect:

$ cat /etc/os-release
ID=wrlinux
NAME=Wind River Linux
VERSION=6.0.0.17
VERSION_ID=6.0.0.17
PRETTY_NAME=Wind River Linux 6.0.0.17

$ rpm -qa | grep jdk
jdk-fonts-1.5.0-u19r0.0.lib32_x86
jdk-plugin-1.5.0-u19r0.0.lib32_x86
jdk-1.5.0-u19r0.0.lib32_x86
jdk-dev-1.5.0-u19r0.0.lib32_x86
jdk7-1.7.0-u51r2.0.lib32_x86
jdk7-plugin-1.7.0-u51r2.0.lib32_x86
jdk7-fonts-1.7.0-u51r2.0.lib32_x86
jdk7-dev-1.7.0-u51r2.0.lib32_x86

$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:$HOME:/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/bin

(I shared part of the paths here, due to confidential reasons)

I currently have 2 versions, but only 1.7 should be active. I have to do a Java version update, but almost at the end an error appears.

First of all, the team that should work as expected is as follows:

$ javaws http://link_to_file.jnlp

Here are the commands that I followed with an additional explanation below:

$ javaws http://link_to_file.jnlp
Disabling Java as it is too old and likely to be out of date. To reenable use jcontrol utility

This does not actually disable Java, and several executions of the command give the same result.

$ javaws -verbose  http://link_to_file.jnlp
Java(TM) Web Start 10.51.2.13-fcs Launching: /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/bin/java
/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/bin/java
 -classpath
 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/lib/deploy.jar
 -Djava.security.policy=file:/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/lib/security/javaws.policy
 -DtrustProxy=true
 -Xverify:remote
 -Djnlpx.home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/bin
 -Djnlpx.origFilenameArg=http://link_to_file.jnlp
 -Djnlpx.remove=false
 -Dsun.awt.warmup=true
 -Xbootclasspath/a:/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/lib/javaws.jar:/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/lib/deploy.jar:/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/lib/plugin.jar
 -Djnlpx.splashport=40783
 -Djnlpx.jvm=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/bin/java
 com.sun.javaws.Main
 -verbose
 -notWebJava
 http://link_to_file.jnlp
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Djava.vendor="Sun Microsystems Inc."

Using verbose gives me the expected behavior. How strange is that ?!

... getting even more interesting ...

$ which javaws
/usr/bin/javaws

$ file /usr/bin/javaws
/usr/bin/javaws: symbolic link to `/usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.7.0.51-linux/bin/javaws' 

$ /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.7.0.51-linux/bin/javaws  http://opera.asml.com:7800/forms/java/oprprd.jnlp
Disabling Java as it is too old and likely to be out of date. To reenable use jcontrol utility
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Djava.vendor="Sun Microsystems Inc."
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Djava.vendor="Sun Microsystems Inc."
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Djava.vendor="Sun Microsystems Inc."

$ /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.7.0.51-linux/bin/javaws  http://opera.asml.com:7800/forms/java/oprprd.jnlp
This application cannot be downloaded because Java has been disabled through the web. You can enable Java on this system using the Java Control Panel.

Java, jcontrol (Control Panel)

$ /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.7.0.51-linux/bin/javaws -verbose  http://link_to_file.jnlp
Java(TM) Web Start 10.51.2.13-fcs Launching: /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/bin/java
/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/bin/java
 -classpath
 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/lib/deploy.jar
 -Djava.security.policy=file:/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/lib/security/javaws.policy
 -DtrustProxy=true
 -Xverify:remote
 -Djnlpx.home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/bin
 -Djnlpx.origFilenameArg=http://link_to_file.jnlp
 -Djnlpx.remove=false
 -Dsun.awt.warmup=true
 -Xbootclasspath/a:/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/lib/javaws.jar:/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/lib/deploy.jar:/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/lib/plugin.jar
 -Djnlpx.splashport=43537
 -Djnlpx.jvm=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-linux-1.7.0.51/jre/bin/java
 com.sun.javaws.Main
 -verbose
 -notWebJava
 http://link_to_file.jnlp
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -Djava.vendor="Sun Microsystems Inc."