Javac problem due to a wrong classpath - WHY?

Question

Hi,
this is the initial part of my classpath:
luca@linux:~> echo $classpath
:/java/jdk/jre/lib/rt.jar:/java/jikes/rvm/2.3.0.1/rvm.classes:
As you can see the first entry is the rt.jar, while the second is a wrong path that leads to a directory tree where there are both classes and sources. In particular, under rvm.classes there is a structure similar to the java one, with the java directory, java/lang, etc.
With this (wrong) classpath, when I try to compile an application, the compiler stops due to problems compiling java.lang.Thread under rvm.classes. I've solved the problem inserting the right classpath in the second entry, but I'd like to know why the compiler asks me to compile Thread since it should be already available from rt.jar (which is the first entry).
Thanks,
Luca

Answer 1

You don't need to put rt.jar in the classpath, the compiler will automatically look there for classes. So perhaps you are confusing the compiler by putting it there. Take it out.