I have downloaded limewire and am trying to run it, but it is having trouble finding a look-and-feel class:

Starting LimeWire...
Java exec found in PATH. Verifying...
Suitable java version found [java = 1.5.0_08]
Configuring environment...
Loading LimeWire:
Exception in thread "AWT-XAWT" java.lang.Error: can't load com.birosoft.liquid.LiquidLookAndFeel
at javax.swing.UIManager.initializeDefaultLAF(UIManag er.java:1176)
at javax.swing.UIManager.initialize(UIManager.java:12 57)
at javax.swing.UIManager.maybeInitialize(UIManager.ja va:1245)
at javax.swing.UIManager.getDefaults(UIManager.java:5 56)
at javax.swing.UIManager.getColor(UIManager.java:590)
at com.sun.java.swing.plaf.motif.MotifBorders$BevelBo rder.<init>(MotifBorders.java:43)
at com.sun.java.swing.plaf.motif.MotifLookAndFeel.ini tComponentDefaults(MotifLookAndFeel.java:197)
at sun.awt.X11.XAWTLookAndFeel.initComponentDefaults( XAWTLookAndFeel.java:81)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicLookAndFeel.getDefault s(BasicLookAndFeel.java:97)
at sun.awt.X11.XToolkit.initUIDefaults(XToolkit.java: 232)
at sun.awt.X11.XToolkit.run(XToolkit.java:437)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:595)

This seems to indicate there is a missing class for the Liquid Look-and-feel.

I also ran into this problem when I downloaded and installed the Linux RPM version, so it is not just in the 'other' distribution.

Might there be a problem with the build that leaves out some classes?

Never seen this problem before. If you're willing to try these options:

1. Delete your LW Preferences folder whilst LW is closed; instructions here: Point #2 & 3 in Fixes for Limewire (sample image included at bottom of page.)

2. Use Add/Remove Control panel to remove all versions of Java. Reboot. Then download & install the "Offline" installer which is about a 15 MB download file: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

3. Go to Start menu, Programs>LW>Uninstall & uninstall LW.

4. Download ‘Other’ version & simply unzip & use!. If still problems, try step 5 here Fixes for Limewire

Here are the things that I have tried, and what worked:

1. Installed from the Linux rpm. This is where the problem originally occurred.
2. Installed using the 'Other' distribution zip. Again had the problem.
3. Google'd the liquid look-and-feel that the exception description described. Found it at sourceforge, and downloaded it. Installed it in the place where I had unzipped the LimeWireOther.zip. The same problem occurred.
4. Tried to manipulate the runlime.sh file to add the liquidlnf.jar file to the path. Since the runlime.sh starts using the -jar option, I couldn't get it to work by adding a '-cp liquidlnf.jar' to the command line. I'm sure there must be a way to do this, but I didn't have the patience to fiddle around with it.
5. Downloaded the source and unzipped it. Copied the liquidlnf.jar to the proper location in the source directory. Went to core and did 'ant', and went to gui and did 'ant'. Then executed the 'run' script. The program started just fine.

It is clear to me that both the linux rpm and the LimeWireOther.zip did not have the required liquidlnf.jar file. For the LimeWireOther.zip, I searched in all the jar files and did not find the class files for liquid.

My conclusion is that the build process leaves out the bundling of the liquid look-and-feel jar with the distribution.

Well done. Funny thing is I've uninstalled LW on my windows & used the "other" zip build & it worked fine. So not sure ... I might ask them about this. Thank you.