As noted on a recent /. and TSS thread, some have noticed that a tool known as the Java SE Time Zone Updater (aka “TZUpdater”) is no longer publicly available. There seems to be some misunderstanding about the purpose of the tool and the impact it’s non-public availability will have.

You do not require the TZUpdater in order to have correct timezone information in your Oracle Java SE applications – it comes automatically with every version and gratis update of Oracle Java SE.

Oracle Java SE 6 is now well past end of public updates. Users are always encouraged to update to the latest gratis public releases available. Users who choose to run older and not publicly supported versions, wanting updates and tools such as the tzupdater for these old, not publicly supported versions, can consider commercial long term support options.

– Don