MacOS 10.5.8 browsers and Java 1.6

[Bob Grossman]

I am trying to load an applet that requires Java 1.6. I am running MacOS 10.5.8 on an Intel machine with all updates installed. Java Preferences shows the following boxes checked:

Java SE 6 64-bit 1.6.0_24-b07-334
J2SE 5.0 32-bit 1.5.0_28-b04
J2SE 5.0 64-bit 1.5.0_28-b04

I went to the Sun Java test site, and it told me my Java version was J2SE Runtime 5 Update 28.

This page gave instructions for changing Java versions by changing a symlink in the Java versions library.

Grossman-CP-339-iMac-2:~ Bob$ cd /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions
Grossman-CP-339-iMac-2:Versions Bob$ ls -l
total 64
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    5 Mar  9 16:31 1.3 -> 1.3.1
drwxr-xr-x   3 root  wheel  102 Dec  2  2007 1.3.1
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    5 Sep 10  2009 1.4 -> 1.4.2
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    3 Aug 30  2008 1.4.1 -> 1.4
drwxr-xr-x   8 root  wheel  272 Aug 30  2008 1.4.2
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    5 Mar  9 16:31 1.5 -> 1.5.0
drwxr-xr-x   8 root  wheel  272 Aug 30  2008 1.5.0
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    5 Mar  9 16:31 1.6 -> 1.6.0
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel   59 Mar  9 16:31 1.6.0 -> /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents
drwxr-xr-x  10 root  wheel  340 Mar  9 16:31 A
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    1 Mar  9 16:31 Current -> A
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    3 May 18 09:58 CurrentJDK -> 1.5

Grossman-CP-339-iMac-2:Versions Bob$ sudo rm -fr CurrentJDK
Grossman-CP-339-iMac-2:Versions Bob$ sudo ln -s 1.6 CurrentJDK
Grossman-CP-339-iMac-2:Versions Bob$ ls -l
total 64
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    5 Mar  9 16:31 1.3 -> 1.3.1
drwxr-xr-x   3 root  wheel  102 Dec  2  2007 1.3.1
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    5 Sep 10  2009 1.4 -> 1.4.2
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    3 Aug 30  2008 1.4.1 -> 1.4
drwxr-xr-x   8 root  wheel  272 Aug 30  2008 1.4.2
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    5 Mar  9 16:31 1.5 -> 1.5.0
drwxr-xr-x   8 root  wheel  272 Aug 30  2008 1.5.0
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    5 Mar  9 16:31 1.6 -> 1.6.0
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel   59 Mar  9 16:31 1.6.0 -> /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents
drwxr-xr-x  10 root  wheel  340 Mar  9 16:31 A
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    1 Mar  9 16:31 Current -> A
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel    3 May 18 09:58 CurrentJDK -> 1.6

Grossman-CP-339-iMac-2:Versions Bob$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_24"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_24-b07-334-9M3326)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 19.1-b02-334, mixed mode)

So the OS is now telling me that the default version of Java is version 1.6.

However, even after restarting my computer, I still can't load the applet, and Sun is still telling me that I am running J2SE Runtime 5.

I see the same symptoms in both Safari 5.0.5 and Firefox 3.6.17.

Any ideas on how to convince my browsers to use Java 1.6?