DST and Java - Don't panic, it can be fixed.
So the DST change didn't get much publicity before 2007, this has lead many organizations to be way behind with updating Java for Daylight Savings time. The deadline is March 11 and you might not even know the scope of the effort in front of you. At this point you're going to have to act fast and look at your most critical systems first.
You'll want to start by building an inventory of your most critical systems to identify where Java is found on those systems. The Sun tzupdater Web Site (see link at the end of this article) provides the following command to find Java installations:
/usr/bin/find DIRPATH -fstype nfs -prune -o -fstype autofs -prune -o -name java -print -exec {} -version \;
Or if you are on IBM AIX, the jtzu tool is even better at identifying Java than the method above.
Once you've identified the version of Java, you'll want to determine what can and can't be patched. Here are the Java versions and the ways they can be patched to be compliant with the US DST Time Changes:
Table 1: Sun, BEA and HP Java
| Java Version | Compliant Release | update tool |
|---|---|---|
| Java 1.0 | None | None |
| Java 1.1 | None | None |
| Java 1.2.0 | None | None |
| Java 1.2.1 | None | None |
| Java 1.2.2 | *? | None |
| Java 1.3.0 | None | None |
| Java 1.3.1 | 1.3.1_18 | 13 tzupdater |
| Java 1.4.0 | None | tzupdater |
| Java 1.4.1 | None | tzupdater |
| Java 1.4.2 | 1.4.2_11 | tzupdater |
| Java 1.5.0 | 1.5.0_06 | tzupdater |
| Java 1.6 | All Versions Compliant | N/A |
*If you need a DST patch for 1.2.2, you should reach out to your Java vendor and ask them if one is available.
Table 2: IBM Java
| Java Version | Compliant Release | update tool |
|---|---|---|
| Java 1.2.0 | None | None |
| Java 1.2.1 | None | None |
| Java 1.2.2 | None? | jtzu |
| Java 1.3.0 | None | jtzu |
| Java 1.3.1 | SDK 1.3.1 SR10 | jtzu |
| Java 1.4.0 | None | jtzu |
| Java 1.4.1 | None | jtzu |
| Java 1.4.2 | SDK 1.4.2 SR5 | jtzu |
| Java 1.5.0 | SDK 1.5.0 SR2 | jtzu |
| Java 1.6 | All Versions Compliant | N/A |
Many companies are using jtzu and tzupdater, as these may be the quickest and least intrusive methods to patch Java.
Large companies tend to compartmentalize support for products. This leads to having many groups supporting products which bundle Java. With so little time left, it's probably best to treat Java as a separate product on it's own and decide at a company level how you're going to deal with the Java DST issues.
Once you have a plan in place, you can scan, track and fix your Java installations on a host by host basis.
References:
Sun tzupdater README
IBM jtzu
Posted by: BrianHayward 23 Feb 2007 07:46:04