nullpointer exception

i installed 1.8 under suse7.2 but starting limewire failed. so i installed the .tgz directory and tried java -showversion -cp . RunLime and I get a dialog box saying: LimeWire has encountered the following error java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException Please send this error to bugs@limewire.com

the console shows:
java version "1.3.0_01"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.3.0_01)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.3.0_01, mixed mode)
[some font properties warnings dropped]
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError: java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.limegroup.gnutella.util.CommonUtils.<clinit>(C ommonUtils.java:116)
at com.limegroup.gnutella.SettingsManager.<clinit>(Se ttingsManager.java:181)
at com.limegroup.gnutella.gui.ResourceManager.<clinit >(ResourceManager.java:68)
at com.limegroup.gnutella.gui.Initializer.initialize( Initializer.java:71)
at com.limegroup.gnutella.gui.Main.main(Main.java:17)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at RunLime.main(RunLime.java:70)