FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.8.0_73"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_73-b02)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.73-b02, mixed mode)


ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Linux new-host-2 4.2.8-200.fc22.x86_64 #1 SMP Tue Dec 15 16:50:23 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux


A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Java 1.8 fails to report a missing class definition error when a superclass of the main class is missing on the classpath. It instead reports that the main class itself cannot be found/loaded. This behavior is different that that found in the Java 1.7 version.


REGRESSION. Last worked in version 7u79

ADDITIONAL REGRESSION INFORMATION:
java version "1.7.0_79"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_79-b15)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.79-b02, mixed mode)


STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
1. Create the following directory structure
src/test/app
src/test/missing

2. Create the java source files.
src/test/app/TestApplication.java
src/test/missing/Missing.java

3. Create a jar file containing the Missing class.
javac src/test/missing/Missing.java
jar cf Missing.jar -C src test/missing/Missing.class

4. Create a jar file containing the TestApplication class.
javac -cp ./Missing.jar src/test/app/TestApplication.java
jar cf TestApplication.jar -C src test/app/TestApplication.class

5. Run the test application class without a classpath reference to Missing.jar
java -cp ./TestApplication.jar test/app/TestApplication


EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
I expected to see an error message reporting a missing class definition.
The following is the Java 1.7 result.

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: test/missing/Missing
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:800)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:449)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:71)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:361)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:355)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:354)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:425)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:308)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:358)
at sun.launcher.LauncherHelper.checkAndLoadMain(LauncherHelper.java:482)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: test.missing.Missing
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:366)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:355)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:354)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:425)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:308)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:358)
... 13 more

ACTUAL -
Error: Could not find or load main class test.app.TestApplication

ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
No error logs were generated.

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
---- begin src/test/missing/Missing.java
package test.missing;

public class Missing
{

    public Missing()
    {
        
    }
}
---- end src/test/missing/Missing.java

---- begin src/test/app/TestApplication.java
package test.app;

import test.missing.Missing;

public class TestApplication extends Missing
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        new TestApplication().run();
    }
    
    public TestApplication()
    {
        super();
    }
    
    public void run()
    {
    }
}
---- end src/test/app/TestApplication.java
---------- END SOURCE ----------