InvalidClassException: JComponent; local class incompatible - JVM Version?

Question

Iam having trouble deserializing some old objects.
My object header is
public class SoundMatrix extends AbstractTableModel implements Serializable
So i happend to save some swing components :(
Now i got the problem of deserializing them again. What can i do to recover the data?
The serialVersionUID is the same, none has changed.
java.io.InvalidClassException: javax.swing.JComponent; local class incompatible: stream classdesc serialVersionUID = -2514362798440941654, local class serialVersionUID = -1030230214076481435
     at java.io.ObjectStreamClass.initNonProxy(ObjectStreamClass.java:562)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readNonProxyDesc(ObjectInputStream.java:1583)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readClassDesc(ObjectInputStream.java:1496)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readNonProxyDesc(ObjectInputStream.java:1583)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readClassDesc(ObjectInputStream.java:1496)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readOrdinaryObject(ObjectInputStream.java:1732)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject0(ObjectInputStream.java:1329)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject(ObjectInputStream.java:351)
     at javax.swing.event.EventListenerList.readObject(EventListenerList.java:255)
     at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
     at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
     at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
     at java.io.ObjectStreamClass.invokeReadObject(ObjectStreamClass.java:974)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readSerialData(ObjectInputStream.java:1849)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readOrdinaryObject(ObjectInputStream.java:1753)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject0(ObjectInputStream.java:1329)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.defaultReadFields(ObjectInputStream.java:1947)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readSerialData(ObjectInputStream.java:1871)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readOrdinaryObject(ObjectInputStream.java:1753)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject0(ObjectInputStream.java:1329)
     at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject(ObjectInputStream.java:351)
     at dk.tigermedia.Prog.main(Prog.java:119)
I guess its a JVM Versioning problem, the version may have changed over time, the application have been used.
I know the problem is, that i have serialized Swing objects- the docs even warn against this. Great :)
Can i see which version was used to make the files? Can take control over the deserializing process?
Tryed overwriting the readObject - but it dont seem to get that far.
Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

Update versions don't matter, just 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 etc.
You don't need to recompile except backwards, e.g. if you're using JDK 1.3 you need binaries produced by 1.3 or with -target 1.3. But I'd advocate writing a new mini application for this conversion task, using 1.3 or whatever the JDK version actually was when the data was serialized.
You also need to inform management about this debacle and the reasons for it. The warnings about serialization-incompatibility of Swing classes have been right there in the Javadoc since the beginning. No competent IT professional should have perpetrated this act. Make sure it doesn't happen again.