Question

I am running into this problem when trying to recompile a single class inside a package.

Now this class uses global types and some of these global types reference it. So taking it out of the package really isn’t an option.

So when I try to compile it with javac alone, I get invalid symbol errors and netbeans shows it is trying to compile things like classespackage.globaltype. Basically it is searching for the global classes inside of the package. Is there anyway to stop it from doing that?

Here is the code:

Global

public class Global {
    example.Main main;
    public Global(example.Main m) {
        main = m;
    }
}

example.Main

package example;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Global g = new Global(new Main()); // COMPILE ERROR
    }
}

Answer 1

I get invalid symbol errors

You probably meant “Cannot find symbol” errors? This can be caused by anything. Imported class which is not in the compiletime classpath, methods which does not exist, variables which are out of the scope. You really need to post the compilation errors to get more detailed answers.

At least, this much sounds like that you didn’t specify the dependencies (the imported classes) in the compiletime classpath using the -cp or -classpath argument.

Is there anyway to stop it from doing that?

By listening to those errors and taking actions accordingly.

---

Update as per the posted code example: the cause of the problem is that classes in the default package (i.e. classes without a package declaration) are invisible to classes inside a concrete package (i.e. classes with a package declaration). You need to put Global in a package. Then it’s visible (importable) to classes inside a package.