certificate problems

When a MacOS X / Safari user tries to load MarvinSketch for the first time, and it is displayed within a frame, Safari hangs (beach ball, force-quit required). The authentication certificate window never pops up. We came to this conclusion because if you navigate to http://copernicus.veritas-et-formositas.net/epoch-plugin/homework/response.jsp, it will load fine on that page, which is the exact same page that is loaded within a frame in ACE Organic where it does not load. Going to the MarvinSketch page at ChemAxon also fixes the problem. Once the certificate is accepted anywhere, the ACE Organic page loads fine.





You'll be able to reproduce this problem only on a Mac that is virgin to MarvinSketch.





(1) Go to http://www.ace-chemistry.com/lite and log in (ID and password sent to Tamas under separate cover).


(2) Click Bug-fix tests.


(3) Press the Assignments tab.


(4) Click on the name of an assignment.


(5) Press Solve.


(6) Watch Safari hang.


(7) Force-quit.


(8) Restart and go to http://copernicus.veritas-et-formositas.net/epoch-plugin/homework/response.jsp


(9) Watch the certificate appear.


(10) Repeat steps 1-5 and watch it work.

Dear Bob,


Thanks for the account.


The reported problem is very mysterious.


The code of your example seems to be OK. But the server can not load the jmarvin.jar in this example (the missing certificate window proves this).


I have checked the other Marvin Applets examples on your site: they work fine (even though they refer to the same Marvin).





The server's access log can be useful to debug the problem. The access log shows which files are downloaded from the server.


If you know the IP address of the client machine where the applet hangs (and the date of the event), you can filter the relevant infos from the access log.





You should see something similar in your access log:

Code:

10.0.0.4 - - [04/Feb/2005:13:22:29 1000] "GET test/3.5.4/marvin/doc/dev/example-view1.1.html HTTP/1.1" 200 2808 10.0.0.4 - - [04/Feb/2005:13:22:29 1000] "GET /test/3.5.4/marvin/marvinmanuals.css HTTP/1.1" 304 - 10.0.0.4 - - [04/Feb/2005:13:22:29 1000] "GET /test/3.5.4/marvin/marvin.js HTTP/1.1" 200 10495 10.0.0.4 - - [04/Feb/2005:13:22:29 1000] "GET /test/3.5.4/marvin/img/loading.gif HTTP/1.1" 200 304 10.0.0.4 - - [04/Feb/2005:13:22:30 1000] "GET /test/3.5.4/marvin/jmarvin.jar HTTP/1.1" 304 - 10.0.0.4 - - [04/Feb/2005:13:22:35 1000] "GET /test/3.5.4/marvin/chemaxon/marvin/dict.class HTTP/1.1" 404 800 10.0.0.4 - - [04/Feb/2005:13:22:35 1000] "GET /test/3.5.4/marvin/chemaxon/marvin/calculations/plugins.properties HTTP/1.1" 200 1377

The above code is a part of a server's access log (where 10.0.0.4 is the IP address of the client machine). It reports those requests which are generated as the example-sketch1.1.html page is opened (with a MarvinSketch applet).


Please check your access log and find the row where the freezing page ("/lite/userHomeFrm.html") is loaded. Following this request, you should see some other requests for "marvin.js", "loading.gif", "jmarvin.jar" and "plugin.properties".


I can have a look at this part of the access log if you send it to me.

On a failure the last call to be made is the call to jmarvin.jar. The two after that in your example do not happen.

Code:

128.163.162.48 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:00:58 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/homework/response.jsp HTTP/1.1" 200 3533 "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/blank.html" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh;$ 12.222.195.158 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:00:58 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/homework/navheader.jsp HTTP/1.1" 200 3508 "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/answerframe.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (com$ 12.222.195.158 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:00:58 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/homework/response.jsp HTTP/1.1" 200 3533 "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/answerframe.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (comp$ 12.222.195.158 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:00:58 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/homework/js/jslib.js HTTP/1.1" 404 1054 "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/navheader.jsp" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatib$ 12.222.195.158 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:00:58 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/homework/js/openwindows.js HTTP/1.1" 404 1072 "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/response.jsp" "Mozilla/4.0 (com$ 12.222.195.158 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:00:59 -0500] "GET /nosession/marvin/chemaxon/marvin/calculations/plugins.properties HTTP/1.1" 200 1377 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (Windows XP 5.1) Java/1.4.2" 128.163.162.48 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:00:59 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/homework/js/jslib.js HTTP/1.1" 404 1054 "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/navheader.jsp" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintos$ 128.163.162.48 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:00:59 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/homework/js/openwindows.js HTTP/1.1" 404 1072 "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/response.jsp" "Mozilla/5.0 (Mac$ 128.163.162.48 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:00:59 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/images/backButton.gif HTTP/1.1" 200 146 "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/navheader.jsp" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintos$ 128.163.162.48 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:00:59 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/images/nextButton.gif HTTP/1.1" 200 145 "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/navheader.jsp" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintos$ 12.222.195.158 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:01:01 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/homework/imageLarge.html?imageurl=tempfiles/kosgnmkqyfmfpfd.jpg HTTP/1.1" 200 339 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows$ 12.222.195.158 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:01:02 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/homework/tempfiles/kosgnmkqyfmfpfd.jpg HTTP/1.1" 304 - "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/imageLarge.html?imageu$ 128.163.162.48 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:01:05 -0500] "GET /nosession/marvin/img/loading.gif HTTP/1.1" 200 304 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (Mac OS X 10.3.7) Java/1.4.2_05" 12.222.195.158 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:01:07 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/images/buttonOff.jpg HTTP/1.1" 304 - "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/navheader.jsp" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible;$ 128.163.160.191 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:01:10 -0500] "GET /epoch-plugin/homework/tempfiles/epkcwyydkblnanj.jpg HTTP/1.1" 304 - "http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/imageLarge.html?image$ 128.163.162.48 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:01:05 -0500] "GET /nosession/marvin/jmarvin.jar HTTP/1.1" 200 461720 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (Mac OS X 10.3.7) Java/1.4.2_05"

128.163.162.48 is the ip of the computer that crashed. We will keep looking into this and see if we can figure anything else out.

mgamin wrote:

128.163.162.48 is the ip of the computer that crashed. We will keep looking into this and see if we can figure anything else out.

Just to make clear: The computer doesn't crash. The browser hangs and must be force-quit.

I have tried this example and it works fine in my Safari browser. (Certificate window is displayed then the applet starts).


http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/response.jsp





Your access log proves that the downloading of the "jmarvin.jar" from the server was successful. (The status code of the request is 200 which means that the request has succeeded.)

Code:

128.163.162.48 - - [23/Feb/2005:13:01:05 -0500] "GET /nosession/marvin/jmarvin.jar HTTP/1.1" 200 461720 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (Mac OS X 10.3.7) Java/1.4.2_05"

After download, the certificate window should display immediately unless the certification are granted previously. After then, the applet starts. (The "plugins.properties" is loaded when the applet starts.)


Since the certificate window does not display on the client machine, the problem may be in the certification process. Perhaps, there is a deprecated Chemaxon certificate on the client machine that causes an error in the certification process.


You can check it by opening Keychain Access (Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access). If you find a "ChemAxon Kft" titled certificate in the list, you should delete it. After restarting of the browser, the signed applet should run.





If this does not help, I have no more idea.

There is no way that a previous certificate would have been granted on these machines that hang. These are machines that would never have seen a ChemAxon product. One was brand-new at Christmas.





If you went to http://www.ace-chemistry.com/epoch-plugin/homework/response.jsp by itself, of course it worked. The problem occurs only when MarvinSketch is loaded within a frame and the certificate has not been granted previously. You need to follow the instructions I set out in my first post to reproduce the bug.





We are aware that we can work around the bug by sending the first-time user to a page where MarvinSketch is not within a frame. But we thought you would want to fix it.

I just installed Apple's latest Security Update, and I am now having a new certificate problem. The ChemAxon certificate is not accepted permanently. Each time I quit Safari, then restart, then go to MarvinSketch, it asks me again whether I want to accept the ChemAxon certificate. The appearance of the certificate is now much different, too. There's no longer a "Grant always" button, and there's a lot more information in the certificate window. Have you experienced this? Is there a way to grant the certificate permanently?

I have updated my OS X to 10.3.8 and installed Security Update 2005-002 (2.0.0.).


Now, the Epoch site works fine (the browser does not hang at the MarvinSketch applet).





Yes, I have realized that the Certificate window is changed.


To set the certificate option, use the list box ("When using this certificate").