If a class is explicitly prepended (or if a class is in rt.jar which is prepended by default), we can't access package declared methods anymore. In other words, it doesn't follow the accessibility policies anymore.

How to reproduce:
-----------------
In the following examples, the package sun.util.calendar has been choosen, because it helps to understand the real world example better.

$ java -version
java version "1.4.2_08"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.2_08-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.2_08-b03, mixed mode)

$ cat sun/util/calendar/A.java
package sun.util.calendar;
public class A {

  public A() {
    System.out.println(B.getZoneAliases());
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
     new A();
  }
}

$ cat sun/util/calendar/B.java
package sun.util.calendar;
import java.util.*;

public class B {

  static HashMap getZoneAliases() {
     return new HashMap();
  }
}


$ javac sun/util/calendar/*.java
$ java sun/util/calendar/A
{}

=> accessing a static package declared method works,
we can access the method called B.getZoneAliases() from A.

$ jar cfv b.jar sun/util/calendar/B.class
added manifest
adding: sun/util/calendar/B.class(in = 309) (out= 233)(deflated 24%)

=> If we prepend the B class (stored in b.jar now), we can not access B.getZoneAliases() from A anymore:

$ java -Xbootclasspath/p:b.jar sun/util/calendar/A
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalAccessError: tried to access method sun.util.calendar.B.getZoneAliases()Ljava/util/HashMap; from class sun.util.calendar.A
        at sun.util.calendar.A.<init>(A.java:5)
        at sun.util.calendar.A.main(A.java:9)

=> Prepended classes don't follow the accessibility policies, they behave differently.

A real world example:
---------------------
$ cat sun/util/calendar/C.java
package sun.util.calendar;
public class C {

  public C() {
    System.out.println(ZoneInfoFile.getZoneAliases());
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
     new C();
  }
}


$ javac sun/util/calendar/C.java
$ java sun/util/calendar/C
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalAccessError: tried to access method sun.util.calendar.ZoneInfoFile.getZoneAliases()Ljava/util/HashMap; from class sun.util.calendar.C
        at sun.util.calendar.C.<init>(C.java:5)
        at sun.util.calendar.C.main(C.java:9)


=> We can not access the package static declared method called ZoneInfoFile.getZoneAliases() from C.

###@###.### 2005-07-05 12:38:57 GMT
###@###.### 2005-07-05 13:30:12 GMT