PRB: Obsolete Packages Not Removed from Java Package Manager

ID: Q232640

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft virtual machine
Microsoft SDK for Java, versions 2.0, 2.01, 2.02, 3.0, 3.1

SYMPTOMS

If you have distributed version V1 (for example, 0,0,0,1) of a Distribution Unit (DU) containing packages A, B, and C, then upgrading to version V2 (for example 0,0,0,2) of the same DU containing packages A and C, with package B now being obsolete, would not remove package B from the Java Package Manager.

RESOLUTION

A workaround is to ship package B in version V2 of the DU (so that version V2 of the DU has packages A, B, and C) in such a way that you remove all the classes and/or resources from package B and replace them with a single dummy file (for instance, 'obsolete.txt').

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

The reason for keeping package B in the Java Package Manager is to accommodate incremental upgrades of the DU as given in the above example. In such a scenario, package B might not be really obsolete. It just might be that package B was not included in version V2 of the DU because it had not changed since version V1 of the DU.

Not removing obsolete packages from the Java Package Manager would result in the following side effects:

consumption of disk space

you would still be able to successfully compile against the old classes in package B

The workaround suggested would remove the obsolete package(s) and replace them with a dummy file, '0' bytes in size, thereby taking care of the above-mentioned side effects.

REFERENCES

For the latest Knowledge Base articles and other support information on Visual J++ and the SDK for Java, please see the following pages on the Microsoft Technical Support site:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/visualj/

http://support.microsoft.com/support/java/

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbJava kbJavaVM kbSDKJava kbVJ kbGrpJava kbSDKJavaFAQ kbJavaVMFAQ
Version : WINDOWS:2.0,2.01,2.02,3.0,3.1
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb