Path Problems in OS X

(Mozilla bug # 108519 (click link to see or vote for the bug))

    There is a problem using the "user.home" system property on Netscape 6.2 for Macintosh OS X.  This problem is fixed with the 1.0d6 version of the Java Plugin.  This report is preserved to document the problem as it existed in version 1.05d and lower.  
    On OS X, "user.home" is of the form /Users/yourname, with no volume name.  This works fine for most purposes, but there is a problem when trying to uses Java's showDocument to display a file in the "user.home" folder using Netscape 6.2 and Java plugin 1.0d5.  
    This problem arises due to different path designations accepted by different browsers.  As detailed in the table below, Internet Explorer accepts a path to a file of the form reported by "user.home", with no volume name (line 1).  However, Netscape 6.2 does not accept such a form (line 1); it seems to require a form with the name of the volume on which the Users folder is located (lines 2, 4).
    This difference in file path designations creates problems in some situations but not in others.  When a signed applet is run from the Web there is no problem for Netscape 6.2 to write a file to "user.home", apparently because this is done properly by MRJ 3.1.  However, there is a problem when trying to display that same file using Java's showDocument because Netscape 6.2 seems to require a volume name to read the file (table lines 2, 4).  
    Everything works fine in Internet Explorer since it can read a file using a file path designation that lacks the volume name (table line 1).  Everything is fine under OS 9 since "user.home" includes the volume name.

    If you have any insights, workarounds or comments about this test page please contact Mickey Segal.  A listing of  many Java resources is at this link.

Line Form of file path designation Internet Explorer 5.1.2 on OS 10.1 Netscape 6.2 on OS 10.1
with plugin 1.0d5
       
1 file:///Users/yourname/file.html OK No
2 file:///Volumename/Users/yourname/file.html No OK
3 file://Volumename/Users/yourname/file.html OK No
4 file:/Volumename/Users/yourname/file.html OK OK
5 file://localhost/Users/yourname/file.html OK No