JDK1.3 build 0 is hanging programs on Win32 (for sure) and Solaris(I think). I believe that is related to Garbage Collection but I'm not sure.

To illustrate the problem show the IdeHelp using the jhviewer (JavaHelp).

Set PATH to point to /usr/local/java/jdk1.3 latest build

cd /usr/local/java/jh1.1
set CLASSPATH=javahelp\lib\jh.jar;javahelp\lib\jhtools.jar;demos\hsjar\idehelp.jar
java sunw.demo.jhdemo.JHLauncher -helpset IdeHelp.hs

During the loading of the HelpSet the program hangs. It works find on JDK1.2.2