Gradle - Could not find or load main class

Question

I'm trying to run a very simple project using Gradle and running into the following error when using the gradlew run command:

could not find or load main class 'hello.HelloWorld'

Here is my file structure:

SpringTest
    -src
        -hello
            -HelloWorld.java
            -Greeter.java
    -build
         -libs
         -tmp
    -gradle
         -wrapper
    -build.gradle
    -gradlew
    -gradlew.bat

I excluded the contents of the libs and tmp folders because I didn't think that would be relevant information for this issue, but I can add it in if need be.

Here is my build.gradle file:

apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'application'
apply plugin: 'eclipse'

mainClassName = 'hello/HelloWorld'

repositories {
    mavenLocal()
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    compile "joda-time:joda-time:2.2"
}

jar {
    baseName = "gs-gradle"
    version = "0.1.0"
}

task wrapper(type: Wrapper) {
    gradleVersion = '1.11'
}

Any idea on how to fix this issue? I've tried all sorts of things for the mainClassName attribute but nothing seems to work.

Answer 1

1. verify if gradle.properties define right one JAVA_HOVE

   org.gradle.java.home=C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.8.0_181

or

2. if it's not defined be sure if Eclipse know JDK and not JRE

Answer 2

I see two problems here, one with sourceSet another with mainClassName.

1. Either move java source files to src/main/java instead of just src. Or set sourceSet properly by adding the following to build.gradle.

   sourceSets.main.java.srcDirs = ['src']
   

2. mainClassName should be fully qualified class name, not path.

   mainClassName = "hello.HelloWorld"
   

Answer 3

When I had this error, it was because I didn't have my class in a package. Put your HelloWorld.java file in a "package" folder. You may have to create a new package folder:

Right click on the hello folder and select "New" > "Package". Then give it a name (e.g: com.example) and move your HelloWorld.java class into the package.

Answer 4

I just ran into this problem and decided to debug it myself since i couldn't find a solution on the internet. All i did is change the mainClassName to it's whole path(with the correct subdirectories in the project ofc)

    mainClassName = 'main.java.hello.HelloWorld'

I know it's been almost one year since the post has been made, but i think someone will find this information useful.

Happy coding.