ClassNotFoundException using Packages / JARs

Question

I have a program that I wrote that is essentially a remote desktop connection, except that it can control any number of computers that connect to the server program. It simply assumes each computer is setup exactly the same and only uses a screenshot feedback from one of the computers. The following files are involved, and all located in the same directory "RemoteControl"
Directory: RemoteControl
RCServer.java   - The server program
RCClient.java   - The client program
Resolution.java - Object containing information about the client's resolution
ScreenShot.java - Object containing a Screenshot of the client's computer
MyAction.java   - Object that dictates what action needs to be performedWhen the client connects to the server, the server writes a blank Resolution object to the client, which the client completes and sends back to the server. Outside of a package/JAR file, everything works just fine. However, when I add the line
package RemoteControl;To each of the files above, compile them, and create 2 jar files like so:
jar -cmf0 manifest.txt RCClient.jar RemoteControl
jar -cmf0 manifest.txt RCServer.jar RemoteControlWith the manifest containing:
Main-Class: RemoteControl/RCClientWith the blank line at the end (replace RCClient w/ RCServer when creating the server jar file), the server program starts up just fine, and so does the client portion. However, when the client actually connects to the server, and the server writes the Resolution object, I receive a "ClassNotFoundException". I extract all the files from the newly created JAR files (jar xf RCClient.jar/RCServer.jar) and they contain all the necessary files (and both JARs are identical with the exception of the manifest data).
Looking at the stacktrace, the only line number it gives (rest are all Unknown Source/Native Method) points to the middle line in the following:
System.out.println("starting thread loop - before reading object");
Object tmp = in.readUnshared();
System.out.println("object was read");And the console output stops at "starting thread loop - before reading object" before printing the stacktrace. Incase needed, in.readUnshared(); is an ObjectInputStream.
My initial guess was something to do with resources in a JAR file, since in the past, I've had to use "getClass().getResource("images/gifIcon.gif");" to get an image within the JAR file to load during the application, however my research has told me all class files within the JAR are automatically loaded (assuming they are in the same directory at the main class), and that the Class-Path line in a manifest is only needed when you try to access classes within other JARs.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
Brad

Answer 1

Here's the output from "jar -tf RCClient.jar"
META-INF/
META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
RemoteControl/
RemoteControl/BGPanel.class
RemoteControl/Client.class
RemoteControl/images/
RemoteControl/images/gifIcon.gif
RemoteControl/MyAction.class
RemoteControl/MyAction.java
RemoteControl/RCClient$1.class
RemoteControl/RCClient.class
RemoteControl/RCClient.java
RemoteControl/RCServer.class
RemoteControl/RCServer.java
RemoteControl/RCServerGUI.class
RemoteControl/Resolution.class
RemoteControl/Resolution.java
RemoteControl/ScreenShot.class
RemoteControl/ScreenShot.java
RemoteControl/ShowMessageListener.classAnd the output from "jar -tf RCServer.jar"
META-INF/
META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
RemoteControl/
RemoteControl/BGPanel.class
RemoteControl/Client.class
RemoteControl/images/
RemoteControl/images/gifIcon.gif
RemoteControl/MyAction.class
RemoteControl/MyAction.java
RemoteControl/RCClient$1.class
RemoteControl/RCClient.class
RemoteControl/RCClient.java
RemoteControl/RCServer.class
RemoteControl/RCServer.java
RemoteControl/RCServerGUI.class
RemoteControl/Resolution.class
RemoteControl/Resolution.java
RemoteControl/ScreenShot.class
RemoteControl/ScreenShot.java
RemoteControl/ShowMessageListener.classShortly after posting this question, I removed all the package declarations and deleted the class files and recompiled and I started getting the NoClassDefFoundError even though the .class file was in the same directory (not using a jar at this point), so I decided to revert back to earlier versions of the files above. When I compiled them and successfully ran them, I repeated the steps outlined in my OP and it started working, even within a JAR file. So, sadly I cannot provide a stacktrace anymore, but my problem's somehow solved.
Note: The JARs that weren't working had the same output as above, which leads me to believe...
Other than missing a few JOptionPane debugging prompts, the only possible difference I could think of is perhaps the Resolution object the server and client were using, were in different packages (or more specifically, one was in a package, one was not). Even though I did exactly the steps in my OP, I'm not going to rule out a possibility that somewhere, something wasn't over-written like it was supposed to (since I was compiling both the java files and the jars w/o deleting any previous .class/.jar files).
And thanks for both the hasty reply, as well as informing me about the -tf option, that's a bit quicker than extracting the files and looking at the structure myself.