java.lang.NoClass DefFoundError: while resolving class

hello,

I downloaded a java game (http://freecol.sourceforge.net) and when I try to run it according to suggestions from game makers:
java -jar FreeCol.jar
i get following response:
[marek@host freecol]$ java -jar FreeCol.jar libgcj-java-placeholder.sh This script is a placeholder for the /usr/bin/java master link required by jpackage.org conventions. libgcj's rmiregistry, rmic and jar tools are now slave symlinks to these masters, and are managed by the alternatives(8) system. This change was necessary because the rmiregistry, rmic and jar tools installed by previous versions of libgcj conflicted with symlinks installed by jpackage.org JVM packages. Exception during event dispatch: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: while resolving class: net.sf.freecol.client.gui.plaf.FreeColLookAndFeel at java.lang.VMClassLoader.resolveClass(java.lang.Class) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.lang.Class.initializeClass() (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at net.sf.freecol.FreeCol$2.run() (Unknown Source) at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch() (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(java.awt.AWTEvent) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run() (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at _Jv_ThreadRun(java.lang.Thread) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at GC_start_routine (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at __clone (/lib/tls/libc-2.3.3.so) Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.swing.plaf.metal.DefaultMetalTheme not found in [file:FreeCol.jar, core:/] at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(java.lang.String) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at gnu.gcj.runtime.VMClassLoader.findClass(java.lang.String) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(java.lang.String, boolean) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at _Jv_FindClass(_Jv_Utf8Const, java.lang.ClassLoader) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at _Jv_ClassReader.handleClassBegin(int, int, int) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at _Jv_ClassReader.parse() (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at _Jv_DefineClass(java.lang.Class, byte[], int, int) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.lang.VMClassLoader.defineClass(java.lang.ClassLoader, java.lang.String, byte[], int, int, java.security.ProtectionDomain) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(java.lang.String, byte[], int, int, java.security.ProtectionDomain) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(java.lang.String, byte[], int, int, java.security.CodeSource) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(java.lang.String) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at gnu.gcj.runtime.VMClassLoader.findClass(java.lang.String) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(java.lang.String, boolean) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at _Jv_FindClass(_Jv_Utf8Const, java.lang.ClassLoader) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.lang.Class.forName(java.lang.String, boolean, java.lang.ClassLoader) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at _Jv_BytecodeVerifier.verify_instructions_0() (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at _Jv_VerifyMethod(_Jv_InterpMethod) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at _Jv_PrepareClass(java.lang.Class) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at _Jv_WaitForState(java.lang.Class, int) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.lang.VMClassLoader.linkClass0(java.lang.Class) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) at java.lang.VMClassLoader.resolveClass(java.lang.Class) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0) ...8 more Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException at gnu.java.awt.peer.gtk.GdkGraphicsEnvironment.getDefaultScreenDevice() (/usr/lib/lib-gnu-java-awt-peer-gtk.so.5.0.0) at net.sf.freecol.client.gui.ImageLibrary.init(boolean) (Unknown Source) at net.sf.freecol.client.gui.ImageLibrary.ImageLibrary(java.lang.String) (Unknown Source) at net.sf.freecol.FreeCol.main(java.lang.String[]) (Unknown Source)

What can I do about it? My system is Fedora Core 3 and I have not even basic knowledge of java.

mark

I have not had any success with using gcj that comes installed with most Linux distributions (at least it is installed with Red Hat 8 on my machine). Personally, I would recommend that you download Sun's implementation from java.sun.com. You will need to modify your .bashrc (for bash) or similar file (for other shells) to add the directory for your Java installation to the PATH system variable. If you need help doing this, please come back with more questions.

Good luck!

Layne

hello,

thanks for the hint. it worked fine.