Protected inner classes are available at all points in the immediate body
of any subclass of the protecting (i.e., enclosing) class. However, the
compiler rejects an attempted reference to a protected inherited class
if the reference occurs as a supertype of a further inner class.

(Note: This bug is masked when the two classes are in the same package,
because the compiler allows the reference on different grounds.)

Here is an example:
==> B.java <==
package b;
public class B {
protected class M { }
}

==> C.java <==
package c;
import b.B;
class C extends B {
M m; // OK
class N extends M { } // BAD
}

The output is:

C.java:5: Can't access inner class b.B. M. Only public classes and interfaces in other packages can be accessed.
    class N extends M { } // BAD
                    ^
1 error


--------
This problem is seen again in JDK1.2FCS-B build from /usr/local/java/jdk1.2fcs.
These files compiled fine with JDK1.2beta4-K build.
Compiling B.java and C.java throws the following error.

C.java:5: The type b.B.M to which the member <init> belongs is not accessible from inner class c.C. N.
            class N extends M { } // BAD
                  ^
1 error

Note : This scenario is used in one of the Accessibility tools used for testing JDK1.2 build. Hence the tools are not testable with JDK1.2FCS-B build. They compiled fine with JDK1.2beta4-K build.

mukund.madhugiri@eng 1998-07-20