FileNotFoundException when file exists with all permissions

Question

Hi,

I am trying to read a file and the error i get is

java.io.FileNotFoundException: /homes/at1106/fourthYearComputing/Induvidual-Project/svn-workspace/trunk/Induvidual_Project/src/game/player/gametheoryagent/configurations/gameTheoryAgentConfiguration.properties  (No such file or directory)
        at java.io.FileInputStream.open(Native Method)
        at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(FileInputStream.java:106)
        at game.player.gametheoryagent.GameTheoryAgent.<init>(GameTheoryAgent.java:67)
        at simulation.Simulator.createPlayer(Simulator.java:141)
        at simulation.Simulator.main(Simulator.java:64)

however the file does exist and just to double check i gave it 777 permissions, as shown below:

tui% cd /homes/at1106/fourthYearComputing/Induvidual-Project/svn-workspace/trunk/Induvidual_Project/src/game/player/gametheoryagent/configurations
tui% ls -al
total 4
drwxrwxrwx 3 at1106 cs4 1024 2010-02-22 17:45 .
drwxrwxrwx 4 at1106 cs4 1024 2010-02-22 17:27 ..
-rwxrwxrwx 1 at1106 cs4  260 2010-02-22 17:31 gameTheoryAgentConfiguration.properties
drwxrwxrwx 6 at1106 cs4 1024 2010-02-22 17:41 .svn

Any ideas as to why I'm getting the FNF exception?

Thanks

java code that makes the call:

File file = new File(pathToConfiguration)
   Properties configuration = new Properties();
    try{
        configuration.load(new FileInputStream(file));
        int RAISE_RATIO = Integer.parseInt(configuration.getProperty("raise_ratio"));
    }
    catch(IOException event){
        System.err.println("Error in reading configuration file " + pathToConfiguration);
        event.printStackTrace();    
  }

The properties file reads:

raise_ratio=4

This was tested in windows (with a diff pathToConfiguration (which is passed into the constructor)) and works fine.

Added in the following checks in the Catch block

        if(file.exists()){
            System.out.println("file exists");
        }
        else{
            System.out.println("file doesn't exist");
        }

        System.out.println(file.getAbsolutePath());
        if(file.canRead()){
            System.out.println("can read");
        }
        if(file.canWrite()){
            System.out.println("can write");
        }

the output is as follows:

file doesn't exist
/homes/at1106/fourthYearComputing/Induvidual-Project/svn-workspace/trunk/Induvidual_Project/src/game/player/gametheoryagent/configurations/gameTheoryAgentConfiguration.properties

Answer 1

When you execute your java program are you running it as the same 'user' as when you run the command-line checks?

EDIT: Try copying the file to the directory where you run your program from and see if it is able to read it. You can also try the following after copying the file to your execution directory:

InputStream in = getClass().getResourceAsStream("/gameTheoryAgentConfiguration.properties");
configuration.load(in);

(assuming you have "." in your classpath)

Answer 2

I suppose you double checked the pathname more than once, and as you say you are running the app on the same machine where the code resides.

Could it be that there are some obscure NFS/file server mounts that are valid only for the login shell but not for the applications?

Try copying the file in your $HOME and see if it works.

Answer 3

What gets outputted if you write this:

System.out.println(new File(".").getAbsolutePath());

what is your current directory?

Answer 4

According to the initial stacktrace there appear to be two spaces between the file name and reason:

FileNotFoundException: ...Configuration.properties  (No such file or directory)
--------------------------------------------------^^

This would indicate to me that the filename possibly has a trailing space. Can you double check your pathToConfiguration variable by:

System.out.println("[" + pathToConfiguration + "]");

To double check that the path is what you think it is?