jre download bundles don't extract executably

[Martin Buchholz-3]

HI guys,

I downloaded some of the JREs from download.java.net.
The JRE's are packaged differently from the JDKs, for no apparent reason.
The JDKs are .bin files.  The JREs are .jar files.  Why?
The JDK 6 download bundles were all .bin files.

When I extract the JREs (using java -jar )
The resulting jre1.7.0 directory contains no executable files.
For example, here's what happens when I try to run "java":

$ bin/java -version
zsh: permission denied: bin/java

Martin

[tim.bell]

Hi Martin
> I downloaded some of the JREs from download.java.net.
> The JRE's are packaged differently from the JDKs, for no apparent reason.
> The JDKs are .bin files.  The JREs are .jar files.  Why?

I don't know the reasoning behind this new bundling.  I tried to dig up the Bug-ID where these
packaging changes went in, but have not found it yet.

> The JDK 6 download bundles were all .bin files.
>
> When I extract the JREs (using java -jar )
> The resulting jre1.7.0 directory contains no executable files.

See Bug-ID 6385672 "JRE installer fails to set executable attribute on Linux"

   http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6385672

The evaluation on 6385672 seems to indicate these click-wrap .jar installers have been built
for a long time, but were not released.  Maybe that decision changed recently.  I will ask some
questions.

HTH - Tim