JAVA error while launching SPECTRUM 10.x Installer "Warning: Missing charsets in String to FontSet conversion"

Products

• CA Spectrum

Issue/Introduction

While installing SPECTRUM 10.2 and 10.3 on RHEL 7 we get a JAVA error at the very beginning of the installation: 

./installer 

Warning: Missing charsets in String to FontSet conversion 

Preparing to install... 

Extracting the JRE from the installer archive... 

Unpacking the JRE... 

Extracting the installation resources from the installer archive... 

Configuring the installer for this system's environment... 

Launching installer... 

An internal LaunchAnywhere application error has occured and this application cannot proceed. (LAX) 

 

Stack Trace: 

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Malformed \uxxxx encoding. 

at java.util.Properties.loadConvert(Properties.java:574) 

at java.util.Properties.load0(Properties.java:391) 

at java.util.Properties.load(Properties.java:317) 

at com.zerog.common.java.util.PropertiesUtil.loadProperties(Unknown Source) 

at com.zerog.lax.LAX.<init>(Unknown Source) 

at com.zerog.lax.LAX.main(Unknown Source) 

[[email protected] spectrum_10_2_Linux]$ 

 

Environment

Spectrum 10.2 or 10.3 RedHat 7InstallAnywhere

Cause

There is a known InstallAnywhere error that is documented in various softwares.   We have documented this for other CA products but not Spectrum but the solutions are not working in Spectrum.

Defect DE139066 - Malformed uxxxx Encoding Error Generated When Launching Installer 

Here the recommended solution is:

InstallAnywhere is picking up the TITLEBAR and PS1 variables in the shell environment. Certain values might cause problems in the installer. For example, an issue occurs when the following environment variables are set: 

TITLEBAR="\[\033]\@\h: w\007]\" 

PS1="${TITLEBAR}[\w]\n\[email protected]\h$ " 

The PS1 environment variable is responsible for the appearance of the command prompt in the console. The letter 'u' represents the user that is logged-in. When the PS1 environment variable includes a 'u', the installer confuses it with a Unicode character and the installation fails.   You can use these workarounds: 

Change PS1 to its default value. 

Omit the 'u' key. 

Run unset on both environment variables before installing. 

Keep in mind that if PS1 is unset, then the shell prompt is invisible. 

For example: PS1=">" TITLEBAR="Install" ./workstation-installer-unix

Resolution

The aforementioned variables did not exist, but a badly formed URL in the environment variables was found to be the cause of this.  

http_proxy=http://\*********************

 

Removing this variable allowed the installation to continue.

Additional Information

Please reference the following for more information:

https://docops.ca.com/ca-apm/10-3/en/ca-apm-release-notes/known-issues/third-party-known-issues#Third-PartyKnownIssues-DefectDE139066-MalformeduxxxxEncodingErrorGeneratedWhenLaunchingInstaller