How to solve java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError?

Question

I\'ve tried both the example in Oracle\'s Java Tutorials. They both compile fine, but at run-time, both come up with this error:

Exception in thread \"main\"         


        

Answer 1

I get NoClassFoundError when classes loaded by the runtime class loader cannot access classes already loaded by the java rootloader. Because the different class loaders are in different security domains (according to java) the jvm won't allow classes already loaded by the rootloader to be resolved in the runtime loader address space.

Run your program with 'java -javaagent:tracer.jar [YOUR java ARGS]'

It produces output showing the loaded class, and the loader env that loaded the class. It's very helpful tracing why a class cannot be resolved.

// ClassLoaderTracer.java
// From: https://blogs.oracle.com/sundararajan/entry/tracing_class_loading_1_5

import java.lang.instrument.*;
import java.security.*;

// manifest.mf
// Premain-Class: ClassLoadTracer

// jar -cvfm tracer.jar manifest.mf ClassLoaderTracer.class

// java -javaagent:tracer.jar  [...]

public class ClassLoadTracer 
{
    public static void premain(String agentArgs, Instrumentation inst) 
    {
        final java.io.PrintStream out = System.out;
        inst.addTransformer(new ClassFileTransformer() {
            public byte[] transform(ClassLoader loader, String className, Class classBeingRedefined, ProtectionDomain protectionDomain, byte[] classfileBuffer) throws IllegalClassFormatException {

                String pd = (null == protectionDomain) ? "null" : protectionDomain.getCodeSource().toString();
                out.println(className + " loaded by " + loader + " at " + new java.util.Date() + " in " + pd);

                // dump stack trace of the thread loading class 
                Thread.dumpStack();

                // we just want the original .class bytes to be loaded!
                // we are not instrumenting it...
                return null;
            }
        });
    }
}