install error: "Cannot use classic compiler"

[Mark Johnson <ma...@gilanet.com>]

I keep getting this error message while installing ant, servletapi,
tomcat on a machine running Debian (upgraded from slink to potato) with
the IBM Java2 SDK. My PATH includes $JAVA_HOME/bin, where javac resides.

mybox:# java -version
java version "1.3.0"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.3.0)
Classic VM (build 1.3.0, J2RE 1.3.0 IBM build cx130-20001124 (JIT
enabled: jitc))

Here's what's odd. I ran './bootstrap.sh' in the ant directory, and the
build failed with: "Cannot use classic compiler, as it is not
available". AT the end of my rope, I reinstalled the SDK: ant
bootstrapped successfully! I immediately tried './build dist' in the
servletapi (3.2) src directory, and got the same error: "Cannot use
classic compiler, as it is not available".

I've tried changing the <property name="build.compiler" value="classic">
line in build.xml, disabling the jit compiler, etc, to no avail.

I installed the same setup on another machine with no problems. The only
differences I can identify are:
1. The working installation's IBM J2RE build is earlier: cx13020000623
2. The working installation had a fresh Debian potato install (no
upgrade), and perl 5.005 instead of perl 5.004.

TIA, Mark