[SOLVED] Java could not find or load main class

Question

I just tried to run a Java program using Swing components from the terminal, but I always get this error message:
$ java VisualTest
Error: Could not find or load main class VisualTest
The strange thing is that it runs flawlessly from within Eclipse.
I created VisualTest.java using the (old) Visual Editor, it's contents are:
package visual1;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
//import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class VisualTest extends JFrame {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
private JPanel jContentPane = null;
* @param args
public static void main(String[] args) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
VisualTest thisClass = new VisualTest();
thisClass.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
thisClass.setVisible(true);
* This is the default constructor
public VisualTest() {
super();
initialize();
* This method initializes this
* @return void
private void initialize() {
this.setSize(300, 200);
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
this.setContentPane(getJContentPane());
this.setTitle("JFrame");
* This method initializes jContentPane
* @return javax.swing.JPanel
private JPanel getJContentPane() {
if (jContentPane == null) {
jContentPane = new JPanel();
jContentPane.setLayout(null);
return jContentPane;
As you can see, there is a class named VisualTest and it contains a main function.
My CLASSPATH variable contains a dot, like
.:/home/mk/.java/deployment/ext/*
I just updated my Java from JDK 7u67 to JDK 8u20 (the Oracle one, in AUR), but I can't imagine this is related (however, I haven't run Java programs from the terminal for a long time).
Strangely enough, a simple HelloWorld.java
public class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello World!");
runs flawlessly from within the terminal.
Last edited by Marcel- (2014-09-26 12:44:35)

Answer 1

As intended by my institution, I said to Eclipse that it should store sources and class files in the same directory. Let's do ls and test:
[~/workspace]$ ls
total 12K
drwxr-xr-x 4 mk mk 4.0K Sep 23 18:23 visualtest/
-rw-r--r-- 1 mk mk 426 Sep 24 15:45 HelloWorld.class
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mk mk 111 Sep 24 15:44 HelloWorld.java
[~/workspace]$ java HelloWorld
Hello World!
vs.
[~/workspace/visualtest/visual1]$ ls
total 12K
-rw-r--r-- 1 mk mk 528 Sep 24 15:38 VisualTest$1.class
-rw-r--r-- 1 mk mk 1.1K Sep 24 15:38 VisualTest.class
-rw-r--r-- 1 mk mk 1.2K Sep 24 00:32 VisualTest.java
[~/workspace/visualtest/visual1]$ java VisualTest
Error: Could not find or load main class VisualTest
I also tested this with another project that runs fine in Eclipse, but it gives the same error message when trying to issue `java StemOpPartijFrame`.
EDIT:
One difference between the two OSs though is that Linux progresses.  The other decays..
Two? I count many! And I don't think something like OpenBSD decays. ;-)
Last edited by Marcel- (2014-09-24 16:54:12)