The session titled “Discover Java on Mac OS X Leopard” which takes place Thursday morning at 9am PDT, should reveal more about the state of Java on the Mac. Firefox 4 and up require Apples port of Sun/Oracles Java Plugin2 to support Java. But based on the WWDC descriptions, it also seems pretty clear that Java 6 (or a 64-bit Java 5 version) will most likely not run on Mac OS X Tiger 10.4 as it won’t support these technologies. Apples Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 10 breaks Java in Firefox 4 and up The installer for Apples current update (Update 10) for Java on OS X 10.5.X deletes the soft link in /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ to ugin. Oracle Java (Version 7 and later versions) requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.7.3 (Lion) or later and administrator privileges for installation. These two items alone can explain the perceived hiatus that Java 6 has been on. Most notably is 64-bit Java and resolution independence. But from what the description reads, it definitely sounds like Java on Leopard will take advantage of several of Leopards core technologies. It took a while to find that since all of the session descriptions require a click to reveal them. Get the latest news on WebObjects and find out how other developers are using Java successfully on Mac OS X.” Discover how Leopard makes the Java development experience better than ever with resolution independence, a crisper Aqua look and feel, a 64-bit virtual machine, and more. “New features and performance enhancements make Java a greatly improved technology on Mac OS X Leopard. And from what WWDC pages read, Apple may actually have a few cool features in store for Java on Leopard.

First of all, Java is NOT DEAD on Max OS X and Leopard should ship with some version of Java. I just spent some time digging through the WWDC schedule and session to see if I could find anything about Java on Leopard.

Java for mac os x 10.5 update 1