Can somebody explain relative files, URLS, path

Question

Hello,
I'm confused about "where" my files are located in relation to the program. I have the program in package com.buchuki.buchuki. The directory structure is /home/dusty/Documents/code/java/buchuki/com/buchuki/buchuki
I run the program from /home/dusty/Documents/code/java/buchuki with the command java com.buchuki.buchuki.Buchuki
The program runs fine.
But now I want to put a directory SOMEWHERE called images, that contains (you guessed it) images. Then I want to know how to access it from within my program. I will eventually want to put the program in a jar archive.
Do I put the images in /home/dusty/Documents/code/java/buchuki/com/buchuki/buchuki/images and if so, how do I access it as a file (for example, an URL that I can pass to ImageIcon). Or do I put them in /home/dusty/Documents/code/java/buchuki and if so, how do I access it as a file?
It's a simple question, but I'm really stumped!
Thanks,
Dusty

Answer 1

Another way to accomplish this (independent of the CLASSPATH) is to assume that your application has some given directory hierarchy and define an 'application home' environement variable on the command line:
java -Dbuchuki.home=/home/dusty/Documents/code/java/buchuki [name of main class]
then, in your main class, have a static String variable BUCHUKI_HOME that you assign like so:
BUCHUKI_HOME = System.getProperty( "buchuki.home" );
Now you can build relative file paths from BUCHUKI_HOME (don't forget to use File.separatorChar) to your images/ directory.
This is just another way of doing things...the previously suggested approach is an excellent one.