CreateProcess error=206, The filename or extension is too long when running main() method

I have this error in eclipse helios:

Exception occurred executing command line. Cannot run program “C:Program Files (x86)Javajre6binjavaw.exe” (in directory “C:Usersmotiverhelios_workspaceTimeTracker”): CreateProcess error=206, The filename or extension is too long

I researched a bit but most of the issues were related to DataNucleus when working on Google App Engine. But I am not using anything remotely related to Google App Engine. I am doing a small project with Servlet 3.0 on JBOSS 6. I am using Hibernate 4.1.2 for ORM and RESTEasy to expose a web service. I created a util file that has a main() method that basically drops and re-creates the schema. I run the main() methos when I need a clean database for testing purposes. It worked fine on Tomcat 7 but it stopped working when I moved to JBoss 6.

Any hint or solution would be greatly appreciated.

Answer

There is no simple (as in a couple of clicks or a simple command) solution to this issue.

Quoting from some answers in this bug report in Eclipse.org, these are the work-arounds. Pick the one that’s the least painful to you:

• Reduce the classpath
• Use directories instead of jar files
• Use a packed jar files which contains all other jars, use the classpath variable inside the manifest file to point to the other jars
• Use a special class loader which reads the classpath from a config file
• Try to use one of the attached patches in the bug report document
• Use an own wrapper e.g. ant

Update: After July 2014, there is a better way (thanks to @Brad-Mace’s answer below:

If you have created your own build file instead of using Project -> Generate Javadocs, then you can add useexternalfile="yes" to the Javadoc task, which is designed specifically to solve this problem.