A few days ago I needed to use a extenal library for java, namely the Jakarta Commons math library. Unfortunately there were no istrucytions on how to install it. So I just unpacked it and got a jar file. Took some experimenting but I got eclipse to find the jar file and was able to use it. But if I run my program outside of eclipse I get an error:
So what do I need to do in order to be able to use this library outside of eclipse? Is there a directory where i have to put the libraries i use? Is there some PATH variable i need to set?

Hi,

Put the jar file somewhere (say ~/libs/) and then do the following to run your program:

java -cp ~/libs/ <classname to run>

The -cp option takes a ":" separated list of dirs to look at for packages. There is also some environment variable you could set but I forgot the name. Its one of these:

JAVA_CLASSPATH
CLASSPATH

-Sarav

Thanks. It worked. Didn't move the library file, just used the cp option with the location of the jar file. Actually at first, with just the directory name, i got the same error, but when i added the name of the jar file and the directory of the class file i want to execute, it worked.
Thanks again