How do others configure classpath?

CLASSPATH is going to be the death of Java.
Every toolkit, every 3rd party .JAR file, every new version seems to require
a separate entry in CLASSPATH.
1) Why do I ever need to specify the specific jar file (as opposed to
pointing to the directory holding it?)  
2) Do you really have a CLASSPATH that's 200+ bytes long?
3) Some docs have me copying jar files.  How do you manage these "copies?"

Buck Calabro
Commsoft; Albany, NY
"Nothing is so firmly believed as
 that which we least know" -- Michel Montaigne
Visit the Midrange archives at http://www.midrange.com
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