Location of JavaGDBM.java is: /opt/java/jdk1.5.0_01/jre/lib/ext/JavaGDBM.jar The following is some sample JDBM code (not mine): import java.io.PrintStream; import java.util.Enumeration; import au.com.pharos.test.Test; import au.com.pharos.packing.Packing; import au.com.pharos.packing.StringPacking; import au.com.pharos.packing.RawPacking; import au.com.pharos.gdbm.*; public class GdbmFoo { private GdbmFoo () { String a = System.getProperty ("java.library.path"); System.out.println ("path = " + a ); System.setProperty ("java.library.path", a + ":/opt/lib"); a = System.getProperty ("java.library.path"); System.out.println ("path = " + a ); System.loadLibrary ("gdbmjava"); } public static void main (String [] argv) { try { final String dbFile = "/tmp/java.gdbm"; String key, value; boolean found; // Test cases, inspired by db-hash.t in the Perl5.003_93 // distribution System.out.print("GDBM Database tests:\n\t" + GdbmFile.getLibraryVersion() + "\n\t" + GdbmFile.getWrapperVersion() + "\n"); // Create a simple database GdbmFile db = new GdbmFile(dbFile, GdbmFile.NEWDB); Test.ok(1, db != null); String s = System.getProperty ("au.com.pharos.gdbm.libraryFile"); System.out.println ("libfile = " + s + "\n"); s = System.getProperty ("java.library.path"); System.out.println ("libpath = " + s ); } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } }