1. A method of executing an application on a data processing system, comprising: retrieving information indicative of a set of compatible execution environments, wherein each such compatible execution environment is suitable for executing the application; searching files of the system to locate any compatible execution environments installed on the system; responsive to locating at least one compatible execution environment installed on the system, selecting a compatible execution environment from the located execution environments and executing the application within the selected execution environment; and responsive to failing to locate a compatible execution environment, issuing a user detectable alert.