Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 02:46:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: Olivier Lefevre <###@###.###>
Subject: Odd compiler message
To: Neal M Gafter <###@###.###>
Reply-to: ###@###.###
Message-id: <###@###.###>

I was trying to access via reflection a public field in a class
that had nomodifier and thus was package-private, from a class
(its parent) in another package. The compiler said:

  java.lang.IllegalAccessException: Class <caller> can not access
  a member of class <target> with modifiers "public"

Try as I might, I could not make heads or tails of that. So I tried
accessing the field "manually" instead, hoping to get a different
message, and indeed I got

  <target> is not public in <package>; cannot be accessed from
  outside package

  <field> in <target> is not defined in a public class or interface;
  cannot be accessed from outside package

Now _that_ made sense! The problem happened because the
parent was once in the same package but was later moved
out. In general, woulnd't it be a desirable goal to get
the same error message (although not the same stack trace,
of course) whether one is trying to access a field directly
or through reflection?

Best,

-- O.L.