groovyConsole throws java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException when starting

Question

I had just installed groovy in Ubuntu Studio 12.10, from the Ubuntu's Software center, and I'm trying to run the GroovyConsole, but when I execute "groovyConsole" it throws an exception:

java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.tools.GroovyStarter.rootLoader(GroovyStarter.java:108)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.tools.GroovyStarter.main(GroovyStarter.java:130)
Caused by: java.awt.HeadlessException
    at sun.awt.HeadlessToolkit.getMenuShortcutKeyMask(HeadlessToolkit.java:237)
    at sun.awt.HeadlessToolkit$getMenuShortcutKeyMask.call(Unknown Source)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:42)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:108)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:112)
    at groovy.swing.SwingBuilder.shortcut(SwingBuilder.groovy:379)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.PogoMetaMethodSite$PogoCachedMethodSite.invoke(PogoMetaMethodSite.java:226)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.PogoMetaMethodSite.callCurrent(PogoMetaMethodSite.java:52)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCallCurrent(CallSiteArray.java:46)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callCurrent(AbstractCallSite.java:133)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callCurrent(AbstractCallSite.java:145)
    at groovy.swing.SwingBuilder.shortcut(SwingBuilder.groovy)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.reflection.CachedMethod.invoke(CachedMethod.java:90)
    at groovy.lang.MetaMethod.doMethodInvoke(MetaMethod.java:233)
    at groovy.lang.MetaClassImpl.invokeMethod(MetaClassImpl.java:1047)
    at groovy.lang.MetaClassImpl.invokeMethod(MetaClassImpl.java:877)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.InvokerHelper.invokePogoMethod(InvokerHelper.java:793)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.InvokerHelper.invokeMethod(InvokerHelper.java:776)
    at groovy.util.FactoryInterceptorMetaClass.invokeMethod(FactoryBuilderSupport.java:1287)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.PogoMetaClassSite.callCurrent(PogoMetaClassSite.java:66)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCallCurrent(CallSiteArray.java:46)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callCurrent(AbstractCallSite.java:133)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callCurrent(AbstractCallSite.java:141)
    at groovy.ui.ConsoleActions.run(ConsoleActions.groovy:27)
    at groovy.util.FactoryBuilderSupport.build(FactoryBuilderSupport.java:1123)
    at groovy.util.FactoryBuilderSupport.build(FactoryBuilderSupport.java:1106)
    at groovy.util.FactoryBuilderSupport$build.call(Unknown Source)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:42)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:108)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:116)
    at groovy.ui.Console.run(Console.groovy:298)
    at groovy.ui.Console$run$0.callCurrent(Unknown Source)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCallCurrent(CallSiteArray.java:46)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callCurrent(AbstractCallSite.java:133)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.callCurrent(AbstractCallSite.java:141)
    at groovy.ui.Console.run(Console.groovy:264)
    at groovy.ui.Console$run.call(Unknown Source)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:42)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:108)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:112)
    at groovy.ui.Console.main(Console.groovy:199)
    ... 6 more

I have openJDK

java version "1.7.0_15" OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea7 2.3.7) (7u15-2.3.7-0ubuntu1~12.10.1) OpenJDK Server VM (build 23.7-b01, mixed mode)

The groovysh and groovy command works fine. Any advice to make it work?

Answer 1

You probably had installed a "headless" Java, i.e. without graphic libraries.

Headless mode is a system configuration in which the display device, keyboard, or mouse is lacking. Sounds unexpected, but actually you can perform different operations in this mode, even with graphic data.

That's why you had the java.awt.HeadlessException when running the groovyConsole with it and why you solved the issue installing Oracle's JDK which is not headless (although you can run java programs in headless mode with java -Djava.awt.headless=true).