ORA-29548: Java system class reported: could not identify release specified in classes.bin

Question

Problem: During simulation of distributed transactions using Java and Oracle XA, while starting a new transaction (xa.start) hitting exception "ORA-29548: Java system class reported: could not identify release specified in classes.bin"

Initial analysis: Checked the versions of system JDK and JDK version in Oracle. There is a mismatch.

System JDK (Java -version): 1.6.0_31
Oracle JDK (DBMS_JAVA.GET_JDK_VERSION()): 1.6.0_37

Is the difference in JDK a reason for "could not identify release specified in classes.bin" error? Is there any other potential cases which can cause this?

Answer 1

Actually, I think you've got a developer who did a build with 1.7 (or 1.8) and didn't set the compliance level to 1.6. I say that because your error is actually from the JRE and the relevant part of the exception is "Java system class reported: could not identify release"

Answer 2

IF you have applied a recent PSU or java patch to your database make sure you have ran the @postinstall.sql. For example 20406220 has a postinstall.sql in Oracle_home/sqlpatch/20406220 directory.