Problem running Superbeam Version 5

Trekkie00 · March 15, 2020, 7:23am

I’m still trying to figure out, why Superbeam5 doesn’t run on EndeavourOS. Normally one just has to download the archive from this link, extract it and just run the application. It runs fine on openSUSE which means there is no problem with the package itself. Then I installed it from AUR right now (didn’t work for quite some time because of failing key check). But that doesn’t work either.
Trying to start the application in both scenarios end with

sh SuperBeam-5.1.3-linux.sh 
Fehler: Hauptklasse com.masv.superbeam.desktop.SuperBeamApp konnte nicht gefunden oder geladen werden
Ursache: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javafx/application/Application

which means :
Error : mainclass com.masv.superbeam.desktop.SuperBeamApp could not be found or loaded
reason : java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javafx/application/Application

java packages installed on my system :

yay -Qs java
local/archlinux-java-run 6-1
    Java Application Launcher for Arch Linux
local/beanshell 2.0b6-2
    Small, free, embeddable, source level Java interpreter with object based scripting language features written in Java
local/ca-certificates-utils 20181109-3
    Common CA certificates (utilities)
local/doxygen 1.8.17-1
    Documentation system for C++, C, Java, IDL and PHP
local/firefox-noscript 11.0.15-1 (firefox-addons)
    Extension for firefox which disables javascript
local/java-environment-common 3-2
    Common files for Java Development Kits
local/java-openjfx 13.u14-1
    Java OpenJFX 13 client application platform (open-source implementation of JavaFX)
local/java-openjfx-doc 13.u14-1
    Java OpenJFX 13 client application platform (open-source implementation of JavaFX)
local/java-openjfx-src 13.u14-1
    Java OpenJFX 13 client application platform (open-source implementation of JavaFX)
local/java-runtime-common 3-2
    Common files for Java Runtime Environments
local/java11-openjfx 11.0.3.u1-1
    Java OpenJFX 11 client application platform (open-source implementation of JavaFX)
local/java11-openjfx-doc 11.0.3.u1-1
    Java OpenJFX 11 client application platform (open-source implementation of JavaFX)
local/java11-openjfx-src 11.0.3.u1-1
    Java OpenJFX 11 client application platform (open-source implementation of JavaFX)
local/java8-openjfx 8.u202-3
    Java OpenJFX 8 client application platform (open-source implementation of JavaFX)
local/java8-openjfx-doc 8.u202-3
    Java OpenJFX 8 client application platform (open-source implementation of JavaFX)
local/java8-openjfx-src 8.u202-3
    Java OpenJFX 8 client application platform (open-source implementation of JavaFX)
local/jdk-openjdk 13.0.2.u8-1
    OpenJDK Java 13 development kit
local/jdk8-openjdk 8.u242-1
    OpenJDK Java 8 development kit
local/jre-openjdk 13.0.2.u8-1
    OpenJDK Java 13 full runtime environment
local/jre-openjdk-headless 13.0.2.u8-1
    OpenJDK Java 13 headless runtime environment
local/jre11-openjdk 11.0.6.u10-1
    OpenJDK Java 11 full runtime environment
local/jre11-openjdk-headless 11.0.6.u10-1
    OpenJDK Java 11 headless runtime environment
local/jre8-openjdk 8.u242-1
    OpenJDK Java 8 full runtime environment
local/jre8-openjdk-headless 8.u242-1
    OpenJDK Java 8 headless runtime environment
local/js60 60.9.0-2
    JavaScript interpreter and libraries - Version 60
local/log4cplus 2.0.5-1
    A C++ logger very close to Java's log4j
local/mathjax2 2.7.7-1
    An open source JavaScript display engine for mathematics that works in all modern browsers
local/maven 3.6.3-1
    Java project management and project comprehension tool
local/mujs 1.0.6-1
    An embeddable Javascript interpreter in C
local/nodejs 13.11.0-1
    Evented I/O for V8 javascript
local/perl-json 2.97001-1
    JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) encoder/decoder
local/python-sphinxcontrib-jsmath 1.0.1-4
    Sphinx extension which renders display math in HTML via JavaScript
local/qt5-declarative 5.14.1-1 (qt qt5)
    Classes for QML and JavaScript languages
local/qt5-webchannel 5.14.1-1 (qt qt5)
    Provides access to QObject or QML objects from HTML clients for seamless integration of Qt applications with HTML/JavaScript clients
local/tvbrowser 4.2.1-1
    Java-based TV guide which is easily extensible using plugins
local/webkit2gtk 2.28.0-3
    GTK+ Web content engine library

I tried to switch the used java version using update-alternatives but that wasn’t possible.

# update-alternatives --config java
update-alternatives: Fehler: keine Alternativen für java

which means the are no alternatives for java. As you can see there are a few java versions installed. So it should be possible to select another version.

Because I’m not too familiar with that java stuff I’m obviously running around in circles at the moment.

FredBezies · March 15, 2020, 8:43am

Installed using AUR - as it is the normal way to do so when you want to add software which are not available from official Arch repositories - using yay -S superbeam.

Got this dialog:

fred@fredo-arch-mate ~ % yay -S superbeam
:: There are 5 providers available for java-environment:
:: Repository extra
    1) jdk-openjdk 2) jdk10-openjdk 3) jdk11-openjdk 4) jdk7-openjdk 5) jdk8-openjdk 

Enter a number (default=1): 1
:: Checking for conflicts...
:: Checking for inner conflicts...
[Repo: 9]  jre-openjdk-headless-13.0.2.u8-1  jre-openjdk-13.0.2.u8-1  java-environment-common-3-2  jdk-openjdk-13.0.2.u8-1  jre8-openjdk-headless-8.u242-1  jre8-openjdk-8.u242-1  rubygems-3.1.2-4  ruby-2.7.0-1  java8-openjfx-8.u202-3
[Repo Make: 1]  gendesk-1.0.5-1
[Aur: 1]  superbeam-5.1.1-1

Got this error in command line:

fred@fredo-arch-mate ~ % export LANG=C                                     :(
fred@fredo-arch-mate ~ % /usr/bin/superbeam
Error: Could not find or load main class com.masv.superbeam.desktop.SuperBeamApp
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javafx/application/Application

A fix? Remove superbeam and all java you can find, using pamac-aur for instance

After this, retry installing superbeam, but choose option 5 for java.

And here is the result:

Looks like superbeam is utterly broken with something newer than java 8…

manuel · March 15, 2020, 8:48am

Since it is a Java related error, it might work with another (older) Java version. Never tried Superbeam though.

Or, you seem to have many Java versions installed, maybe they conflict?

Trekkie00 · March 15, 2020, 8:52am

Thanks for this hint. I’ll try that.

FredBezies · March 15, 2020, 9:04am

It will launch. Work? Can’t say.

Trekkie00 · March 15, 2020, 9:12am

I coincidently found the solution. My idea to change the java version using update-alternatives was correct. Unluckily that one obviously doesn’t work on Arch. They use a helperscript called archlinux-java, which is quite confusing for me.
Using archlinux-java status displays all installed java versions and shows which one is default. This can be done as user.

archlinux-java status
Available Java environments:
  java-11-openjdk
  java-13-openjdk (default)
  java-8-openjdk

Executing archlinux-java set $javaversion sets the desired java environment as default. $javaversion has to be replaced with the appropriate version displayed by the status command. This has to be done as root.

In this case the command is :

# archlinux-java set java-8-openjdk

Thanks to @FredBezies I knew that I had to choose version 8. That did the trick. So there are no conflicts installing different java versions.