Starting javaws on Mac OS fails with "Cannot find message file"

Question

can someone explain what is happening here?

seneca:~ kiewie$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_24"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_24-b07-334-10M3326)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 19.1-b02-334, mixed mode)
seneca:~ kiewie$ echo $JAVA_HOME
/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Home
seneca:~ kiewie$ uname -a
Darwin seneca 10.7.0 Darwin Kernel Version 10.7.0: Sat Jan 29 15:17:16 PST 2011;    root:xnu-1504.9.37~1/RELEASE_I386 i386
seneca:~ kiewie$ javaws
Java Web Start splash screen process exiting ...
Can not find message file: No such file or directory

When I call javaws with a JNLP-File the same thing happens.

Thanks for your help

Answer 1

I'm using Mountain Lion

There's no need to reinstall Java, just go to the next file:

sudo nano /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/XProtect.meta.plist

And comment the next lines:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>

<!--
        <key>JavaWebComponentVersionMinimum</key>
        <string>1.6.0_37-b06-435</string>
-->
        <key>LastModification</key>
        <string>Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:41:14 GMT</string>
        <key>PlugInBlacklist</key>
        <dict>
                <key>10</key>
                <dict>
                        <key>com.macromedia.Flash Player.plugin</key>
                        <dict>
                                <key>MinimumPlugInBundleVersion</key>
                                <string>11.3.300.271</string>
                        </dict>
<!--
                        <key>com.oracle.java.JavaAppletPlugin</key>
                        <dict>
                                <key>MinimumPlugInBundleVersion</key>
                                <string>1.7.11.22</string>
                        </dict>
-->
                </dict>
        </dict>
        <key>Version</key>
        <integer>2028</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

Answer 2

Okay, creative reinstallation and progressive rebooting fixed it. ... And I feel rather stupid.

Thanks for all your effort!

EDIT: Okay, it apparently is more complicated: if LANG=C it works if it is de_DE.UTF-8 it doesn't I am guessing that it does not have a "I don't know this strange locale, I'll use english" fallback.