Questions and Answers
- Q: I tried to download a product from your web site. After I
have accepted the agreement, nothing happens?
A: Our web site experiences many, many downloads per minute. If you
experience a delay in web pages being served, please try again later. In
most cases, it is simply that the volume is very high.
You may also want to check to make sure that your browser is
compatible with our download mechanism (see item #13 below).
- Q: I am not located in the United States and I tried to
download a product from your web site. After I have accepted the
agreement, nothing happens?
A: Unfortunately, at this time, non-US-and-Canadian users who are
trying to download products from our web site will experience delays and lost
connections. We created an additional mirror site in Europe and are
working on other mirror sites. You may want to try at an off-peak hour
for better connection.
- Q: I am not located in the United States and I tried to download a
product from your web site. It begins to download, but after a little while,
it finishes and I only have part of the file. What is happening?
A: Non-US users will experience problems when trying
to download large binaries from the java.sun.com web site due to network
traffic and the large sizes of our popular download bundles. We have
installed a mirror site in Europe (Holland) and are working on other mirror
sites. For the present time, it is best to try to download
software during off-peak US Pacific Time hours (04:00 GMT - 16:00 GMT).
- Q: When will the other mirror sites be available?
A: Our first European mirror site is in production service.
At this time, we can not commit to a timeline for when additional mirror sites
will be available. However, they are a priority and we hope to have it
resolved soon.
- Q: Why do you hide the binaries on the ftp site with random
number and letter named directories?
A: All of the software that a user can download from the
java.sun.com web site
is under license and export control. This means that before users can download
the software, they need to read and understand the license and export
agreements. Since FTP does not provide a means for querying the user prior
to download, we use the web site for this interaction, and only allow an FTP
connection at the end, once the user has agreed to the conditions of the
license and export control statements.
- Q: Why can I not see a listing of files available on the FTP
site for java.sun.com?
A: All of the software that a user can download from the java.sun.com
web site
is under license and export control. This means, before users can download
the software, they need to read and understand the license and export
agreements. Since FTP does not provide a means for querying the user prior
to download, we use the web site for this interaction, and only allow an FTP
connection at the end, once the user has agreed to the conditions of the
license and export control statements.
- Q: I don't like using a web browser, is there any way I can just
get the files from the FTP server?
A: All of the software that a user can download from the java.sun.com
web site
is under license and export control. This means, before users can download
the software, they need to read and understand the license and export
agreements. Since FTP does not provide a means for querying the user prior
to download, we use the web site for this interaction, and only allow an FTP
connection at the end, once the user has agreed to the conditions of the
license and export control statements.
- Q: The binaries for several of your products are very large
(sometimes as much as 12 Megabytes!). Often, the download fails partially
through forcing
me to restart the download from the beginning. Is there anyway to prevent
this or possibly download these large binaries in smaller pieces?
A:Most of our large download files have been broken into smaller
pieces for easier download. They are available at the product download
pages.
- Q: Can you email binaries to users who can not download files from
the java.sun.com site?
A: All of the software that a user can download from the java.sun.com
web site is under license and export control. This means, before users can download the software,
they need to read and understand the license and export agreements. Since FTP does not provide a
means for querying the user prior to download, we use the web site for this interaction, and only
allow an FTP connection at the end, once the user has agreed to the conditions of the license and
export control statements.
- Q: I got a file not found error from your FTP server.
What happened?
A: There could be several reasons why this error is encountered.
Sometimes
the download software incorrectly constructs the name of the download file
and so when you try to download it, the FTP server does not know about it
because it does not exist. Usually going back to the original download page
and requesting the platform and other options and going through the download
process again will fix this.
- Q: When I click the download button (for either an HTTP or FTP
download), instead of downloading the file, it gets displayed as weird
looking text in the browser. Why and how do I fix this?
A: The reason this is happening is because the browser is getting
confused
about what the data is and how to display it or download it. In the
preferences for your browser, you need to configure it to download files
that have an extension like .tar.Z or .tar.gz or .zip or .exe. To do this,
you need to associate an extension with a MIME type. Here are some of the
common ones we use:
|
Usual
Extension
|
Type/Subtype
|
|
zip
|
application/zip
|
|
bin, sfx, exe
|
application/octet-stream
|
|
Z
|
application/x-compress
|
|
gz
|
application/x-gzip
|
|
sh
|
application/x-sh
|
|
pdf
|
application/pdf
|
|
ps
|
application/postscript
|
- Q: Where/How do I report an error while I was downloading
something?
A: In most circumstances, the software generates a detailed report on
what happened, where it happened and all of the important parameters and
reports that to us. We analyze these reports to determine the best way to
fix the problems. Therefore, it is not neccessary to report the problem to
us. However, if you would like to report a problem, please use the General
Comments option on our Feedback Form .
- Q:I seem to be having problem doing HTTP downloads with my browser,
what can I do?
A:HTTP download works best with Internet Explorer 4.0,
NetscapeTM 4.0,
and HotJavaTM 1.1.5 browsers.
We recommend using NSCP Communicator 4.5 on the Macintosh platform.
Latest version of these browsers also work well.
Results with older browsers, or browsers not listed above may vary. Please
upgrade to latest version of the browsers listed above.
- Q:I have downloaded the smaller pieces of your product, but
clicking on the first piece is generating a "Corrupt Cabinet Error", what's
wrong?
A:To ease the download of our large binary bundles, we have split
the large bundles into smaller pieces (typically 1.4MB each). However,
none of these individual small pieces are installable by themselves. You
must first follow the installation instruction for the product that
you have downloaded to concatenate the pieces together, then install the
final large piece according to the installation instruction.
- Q:I have downloaded your software, and my browser is stating
a smaller file size than what your web page has indicated. What should I
do?
A:Some browsers on the Windows platform are reporting a smaller
file size of the downloaded files. You can verify this by doing a "dir"
command of the directory that the file is located in a DOS window on your
system, or by using the "Properties" option.
- Q:I have started the download, but the progress meter on my
browser stopped before it's 100% complete and seems to be hung. What
happend?
A:Check to see that your internet connection is still live,
or make sure that your ISP does not have any special policy in
regards to keeping the connection alive. You should also make sure
that you have sufficient local hard disk and tmp disk space to
accomodate the file that you are downloading.
- Q:When should I use http downloads versus ftp downloads?
A:It is recommended to always download via FTP rather than HTTP, as it is the better protocol for insuring data integrity during the download. The only time that HTTP would be a better choice than FTP is when you are experiencing problems with your transfer. Some proxy servers/fire walls are set up to refuse ftp downloads but they cannot regulate HTTP because it is the protocol for all WWW sites.
