Java RMI Error unmarshaling return header

[Clayton Cramer]

I am writing a Java RMI application -- a really trivial one, and even this has been far more work than I expected. The server starts up, rebinds the name, then I start the client, and:

Java RMI Error unmarshaling return header; nested exception is:
java.io.EOFException

Where should I start looking for the cause of this? And what does this mean? The text of the error message suggests that there is a mismatch between the definition of the interface that is shared by the client and server. Am I guessing right on this? Or can someone point me in a better direction?

[Pat Farrell]

Why are you writing an application that uses RMI? Why are you not using something sensible and reliable instead?

[Clayton Cramer]

It looked elegant. But I see that it is now somewhat obsolete. Worse, it does not seem to be terribly reliable, perhaps because it is no longer widely used. Or perhaps the other way around: perhaps it is no longer widely used because it is not terribly reliable.

[Pat Farrell]

My guess is that RMI's fundamental unreliability contributed a lot to its lack of modern usage. Another huge problem is that its really hard to pass RMI through corporate firewalls, since it uses non-standard ports.