"constructor has private access" error message

Question

I'm working in Java and have come across an incredibly odd error. I have a very basic class as follows:

public class ClassA{
   private static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(ClassA.class.getName());
   private boolean trace;

   public ClassA(){
      trace = log.isTraceEnabled();
   }

   public void doSomething(){
      //does stuff
   }
}

I can use this class just fine within my current project. However, when I build, package, and install to my local repo (using Maven, no remote artifact repo set up), other projects cannot properly use this class because they cannot instantiate it. When I try anything like:

ClassA classA = new ClassA();

I get the following compilation error:

ClassA() has private access in [package].ClassA

I've decompiled the .jar in my local repo to ensure the constructor is present and is public - it is. I've also used the -U flag to force updates and the compilation continues to fail. What could be causing this error?

Answer 1

Maybe you have some other ClassA.class file somewhere in the classpath. Check all the jars used by the project that cannot call the constructor: one of them should contain an old version of your class.

Answer 2

My only thought is that you have a problem with your package. Make sure to define the package at the top of the source file for classA using the package keyword. When you call it ensure that the file is in include list with the include keyword. You could be running into the error because ClassA exists in some default package and that is what you are actually calling instead of calling your locally made ClassA class. The code you posted looks fine and you have already double checked to ensure the changes have taken effect in your repository.