Java, JavaFX and Temporary Files

Here is another angle on Java under the hood: "Temporary" files. Yes, Java and JavaFX create a bunch of temporary files (some of them being more permanent than others).Here is a view of some of them (my OS is Windows XP):

• {user.home}\Local Settings\Temp\jusched.log
  This file contains the logs of the Java Update Scheduler. It's used to update Java and JavaFX. It seems to check quite often. For example my file contains:

  Thu Apr 02 09:08:13 2009
  :: Started JavaFX Update process Command:C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\javaws.exe  -silent -import -reverse -javafxau -J-Dkernel.download.dialog=false "http://dl.javafx.com/javafx-cache.jnlp"
  Return:1 Error:0
  Fri Apr 03 09:07:08 2009
  :: Started JavaFX Update process Command:C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\javaws.exe  -silent -import -reverse -javafxau -J-Dkernel.download.dialog=false "http://dl.javafx.com/javafx-cache.jnlp"
  Return:1 Error:0

• {user.home}\Local Settings\Temp\java_install_reg.log
  Another Java log file. This one seems to be about JNI calls (done by the Java quickstart/updater?).

  -----------------------------------------
  Process start at 06/08/2009-17:49:51.
  -----------------------------------------
  == Start JNICALL Java_com_sun_deploy_panel_PlatformSpecificUtils_getJqsSettings ==
  == End JNICALL Java_com_sun_deploy_panel_PlatformSpecificUtils_getJqsSettings ==
  -----------------------------------------
  Process start at 06/10/2009-14:55:54.
  -----------------------------------------
  == Start JNICALL Java_com_sun_deploy_util_UpdateCheck_shouldPromptForAutoCheck ==

• {user.home}\Local Settings\Temp\java_install_sp.log
  Another file created by the installer that contains information such as the locale and the default browser. What you can see is that depending on your country and your default browser, you get different "sponsors". Here are a few lines of the content:

  -- ShowYahoo -- Not a country in the country list
  -- ShowMSTB -- IE is NOT the default browser
  -- DetermineSponsor -- The preference order is: SP8;SP4
  -- DetermineSponsor -- NO sponsors found that have not already been offered

• {user.home}\Local Settings\Temp\3f1c0c4.mst
  The Java 6 + JavaFX installer. This file hasn't been deleted at the end of the installation as expected.
• {user.home}\Local Settings\Temp\jinstall.cfg
  XML file containing the Java updater options (where to download the update, the sponsors, ...). Here are a few lines from it:

   http://javadl-alt.sun.com/u/ESD7/JSCDL/jdk/6u14-b08/jre
   https://sjremetrics.java.com/b/ss//6
   ED=0 SP1OFF=1 SP2OFF=1 SP3OFF=1 SP5OFF=1 SP6OFF=1 SP7OFF=1 SP9OFF=1 SP10OFF=1 MSDIR=ms4 SPWEB=http://javadl-esd.sun.com/update/1.6.0/sp-1.6.0_14-b70

• {user.home}\Local Settings\Temp\jnlp-applet
  This directory contains empty files (maybe used as lock) and dll (like JOGL). Maybe created by JavaFX applets that use JOGL.
• {user.home}\Local Settings\Temp\.java_jnlp_applet_nativelib_cache.user.name
  Similar to jnlp-applet (maybe from another JavaFX version).
• {user.home}\.javafxcache\images
  An empty directory
• {user.home}\javafx-sdk\1.1
  It contains 1 log file, a few images and small technical files (but no SDK)
• {user.home}\Local Settings\Temp\hsperfdata_{user.name}
  Directory containing temporary 64.0KB unreadable files.
• {user.home}\.java.policy
  This one contains:

  grant codeBase "file:/${user.home}/Application Data/Agency9/3DMapsK1/3DMapsK1/-" { permission java.security.AllPermission; };

• {user.home}\.javafx_eula_accepted
  An empty file
• {user.home}\.javafx_ping_sent
  This one contains:

  1.1-internal jfxiu jfxic
  1.1.1 jfxiu jfxic
  1.2.0_b233 jfxiu

• {user.home}\Application Data\Sun\Java
  It contains a Deployment directory used by Java Web Start, a few jre1.6.0_xx directories containing a small lzma.dll file and a few jdk1.6.0_xx directories containing the full JDK installer (75 MB per directory)
• {user.home}\Application Data\[ManufacturerNonTM]\[ProductNameNonTM]\install
  It contains the JavaFX 1.1 SDK installer (42 MB)

Well, as you can see that's a lot of "temporary" files and I haven't counted the ones created by Java applications like NetBeans, Groovy and others.

From http://www.jroller.com/agoubard