Cannot solve a NoClassDefFoundError problem

Question

I have two jars. One is an executable jar and the other has classes used as a library by the executable jar.
The executable jar has a manifest that identifying the main class and nothing else. There is no class path definition in the manifest.
The library jar has a basic default manifest containing only creation date and created by entries.
When I run the executable jar I get NoClassDefFoundError for one of the classes contained in the library jar. I have verified everything is correct inside the library jar. The class is in the jar, everything is spelled correctly, etc.
I tried every way I know to set the class path with the library jar.
I have put the pathname/library.jar on the system CLASSPATH and tried java -jar executable.jar
I have tried java -cp pathname/library.jar -jar executable.jar
I have tried java -classpath pathname/library.jar -jar executable.jar
No matter, I still get NoClassDefFoundError. I don't know what else to try.
Can someone make a suggestion?
Thanks in advance.
-S

Answer 1

An easy thing to try isjava -cp pathname/library.jar;pathname/executable.jar somepackage.MainClassInsideJarReplace the ; with a : if you are using a *nix computer.
When the -jar option is used, the -classpath or any system classpath is ignored - the only classpath is the one in the manifest of the executable jar file, if specified.