MacOSX Java JAR Archives and classpath

The JVM class loader can only find and use JAR archives that are listed in the classpath. There are several ways to add a JAR to the classpath:

1. Copy the JAR to one of the directories listed in the CLASSPATH environment variable. To see the current value of the CLASSPATH environment variable, open a terminal and type:

   echo $CLASSPATH

   Another way of viewing the classpath is to run this Java code:

   String classpath = System.getProperty("java.class.path");
   System.out.println(classpath);

2. Modify the CLASSPATH environment variable to also include the directory containing the JAR archive.

   In csh, the CLASSPATH environment variable is modified with the setenv command. The format is:

   setenv CLASSPATH path1:path2:...

   In sh, the CLASSPATH environment variable can be modified with these commands:

   CLASSPATH = path1:path2:...
   export CLASSPATH

3. Set the classpath at runtime. There are several possible ways of doing this:
   1. Use the -classpath option:

      javac -classpath ".:/chilkatJava/chilkat.jar" Test.java
      java -classpath ".:/chilkatJava/chilkat.jar" Test

   2. Use the -Djava.class.path system property:

      javac -Djava.class.path=.:/chilkatJava/chilkat.jar Test.java
      java -Djava.class.path=.:/chilkatJava/chilkat.jar Test