thanks guys! it seems like the problem was when I originally setup the classpath in Eclipse, I didn't realize that when you have the /NUTCH_HOME/ and a /NUTCH_CONFIG_DIR/ value, Eclipse throws an error saying you can't have nested classpaths or something.
creating a symlink outside of the nutch home folder pointing to /conf// solved the problem, and I was able to run Nutch from JAVA.... --iM -- View this message in context: http://lucene.472066.n3.nabble.com/Nutch-1-6-with-Java-not-loading-correct-configuration-file-tp4041998p4042351.html Sent from the Nutch - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

