Make cut and paste work in java applets

Problem: with java plug in 1.6.0.24 (released in Feb 2011), Oracle (the owner of Java) decide that "cut and paste" was a security loophole and disabled it by default in java applets. If you have updated your java (JRE) plugin more recently then that, most likely you are unable to cut and paste material from Java applets to another applications (although it will let you copy from one applet to another).

The fix: turn cut and paste back on. To do this you have to edit your Java security properties file with a text editor (such as gedit, jedit, or any programming editor, but NOT Word). In Windows 7 it is at:

  C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\lib\security\java.policy
In Linux (Ubuntu 11.10) it is at: 
  /etc/java-6-openjdk/security/java.policy
On a mac it is at 
  /Library/Java/Home/lib/security/java.policy
Look for the line in the file: 
  // "standard" properies that can be read by anyone
and immediately after that line add the following: 
  permission java.awt.AWTPermission "accessClipboard";

Save the file with the changes. In Windows and Linux you will be prompted for an administrator/root password, which you will need to enter. On a mac, you have to first open a terminal application then type 

  cd /library/Java/Home/lib/security
  sudo chown myname security

where myname is the name of your account. This will give you authorization to save the file. When prompted, enter your password. After you are done (on a mac), enter sudo chown root security

Then close all browser windows and and start the browser again.

To copy from the Java Applets on the Burden & Faire's site, after running an applet, in Windows or Linux do the following: click with your mouse inside the output window. Then type control-A followed by control-C. Then select your latex or notepad window and type control-V or paste. On a Mac replace control with the apple/freeway key. Note that the edit/select/cut keys will still not be visible in Java, and the usual mouse right-click pop-up edit medu will not be there, but the control-key commands will still work with this fix.

If you update to a new version of Java in the future you will have to repeat the fix!

Sun Oct 23 11:19:56 2011