I'm getting serious errors and cannot run multibit.

I've installed it on this same machine in the past with Ubuntu 12.04 and it worked fine. But recently I gave my computer a fresh install of Ubuntu and cleaned things up. In my attempt to reinstall MultiBit I am having difficulties I never had before.

My first one came with needing to install java. No problem. I hadn't yet done that with my fresh install.

Here is everything that happened during my console installation. My apologies for not putting it in a scroll window. I just spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to do that. I've never known. Somebody please tell me!

seth@oldbox:~/Downloads$ ls
multibit-0.4.12-linux.jar  wireless_driver
seth@oldbox:~/Downloads$ chmod +x multibit-0.4.12-linux.jar
seth@oldbox:~/Downloads$ java -jar multibit-0.4.12-linux.jar
The program 'java' can be found in the following packages:
 * default-jre
 * gcj-4.6-jre-headless
 * openjdk-6-jre-headless
 * gcj-4.5-jre-headless
 * openjdk-7-jre-headless
Try: sudo apt-get install <selected package>
seth@oldbox:~/Downloads$ sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jre-headless
[sudo] password for seth:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-3.2.0-29 linux-headers-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  ca-certificates-java icedtea-7-jre-jamvm java-common openjdk-7-jre-lib
  tzdata-java
Suggested packages:
  default-jre equivs sun-java6-fonts ttf-dejavu-extra fonts-ipafont-gothic
  fonts-ipafont-mincho ttf-telugu-fonts ttf-oriya-fonts ttf-kannada-fonts
  ttf-bengali-fonts
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  ca-certificates-java icedtea-7-jre-jamvm java-common openjdk-7-jre-headless
  openjdk-7-jre-lib tzdata-java
0 upgraded, 6 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 44.1 MB of archives.
After this operation, 63.4 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/universe openjdk-7-jre-lib all 7u7-2.3.2a-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 [5,536 kB]
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main ca-certificates-java all 20110912ubuntu6 [8,186 B]
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main tzdata-java all 2012e-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 [140 kB]
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main java-common all 0.43ubuntu2 [61.7 kB]
Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/universe openjdk-7-jre-headless i386 7u7-2.3.2a-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 [37.8 MB]
Get:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/universe icedtea-7-jre-jamvm i386 7u7-2.3.2a-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 [538 kB]
Fetched 44.1 MB in 2min 46s (265 kB/s)                                         
Selecting previously unselected package openjdk-7-jre-lib.
(Reading database ... 170742 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking openjdk-7-jre-lib (from .../openjdk-7-jre-lib_7u7-2.3.2a-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package ca-certificates-java.
Unpacking ca-certificates-java (from .../ca-certificates-java_20110912ubuntu6_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package tzdata-java.
Unpacking tzdata-java (from .../tzdata-java_2012e-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package java-common.
Unpacking java-common (from .../java-common_0.43ubuntu2_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package openjdk-7-jre-headless.
Unpacking openjdk-7-jre-headless (from .../openjdk-7-jre-headless_7u7-2.3.2a-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package icedtea-7-jre-jamvm.
Unpacking icedtea-7-jre-jamvm (from .../icedtea-7-jre-jamvm_7u7-2.3.2a-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for doc-base ...
Processing 2 added doc-base files...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up tzdata-java (2012e-0ubuntu0.12.04.1) ...
Setting up java-common (0.43ubuntu2) ...
Setting up openjdk-7-jre-headless (7u7-2.3.2a-0ubuntu0.12.04.1) ...
update-alternatives: usingusr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-i386/jre/bin/java to provideusr/bin/java (java) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: usingusr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-i386/jre/bin/keytool to provideusr/bin/keytool (keytool) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: usingusr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-i386/jre/bin/pack200 to provideusr/bin/pack200 (pack200) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: usingusr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-i386/jre/bin/rmid to provideusr/bin/rmid (rmid) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: usingusr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-i386/jre/bin/rmiregistry to provideusr/bin/rmiregistry (rmiregistry) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: usingusr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-i386/jre/bin/unpack200 to provideusr/bin/unpack200 (unpack200) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: usingusr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-i386/jre/bin/orbd to provideusr/bin/orbd (orbd) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: usingusr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-i386/jre/bin/servertool to provideusr/bin/servertool (servertool) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: usingusr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-i386/jre/bin/tnameserv to provideusr/bin/tnameserv (tnameserv) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: usingusr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-i386/jre/lib/jexec to provideusr/bin/jexec (jexec) in auto mode.
Setting up ca-certificates-java (20110912ubuntu6) ...
Adding debian:CNNIC_ROOT.pem
Adding debian:TC_TrustCenter__Germany__Class_3_CA.pem
Adding debian:GlobalSign_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:Secure_Global_CA.pem
Adding debian:VeriSign_Universal_Root_Certification_Authority.pem
Adding debian:Entrust_Root_Certification_Authority.pem
Adding debian:Starfield_Root_Certificate_Authority_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:TURKTRUST_Certificate_Services_Provider_Root_2.pem
Adding debian:RSA_Security_2048_v3.pem
Adding debian:Certplus_Class_2_Primary_CA.pem
Adding debian:SwissSign_Gold_CA_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:QuoVadis_Root_CA_2.pem
Adding debian:TC_TrustCenter__Germany__Class_2_CA.pem
Adding debian:GlobalSign_Root_CA_-_R2.pem
Adding debian:Certinomis_-_Autorité_Racine.pem
Adding debian:TDC_Internet_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
Adding debian:GeoTrust_Universal_CA.pem
Adding debian:Staat_der_Nederlanden_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:COMODO_Certification_Authority.pem
Adding debian:Swisscom_Root_CA_1.pem
Adding debian:Izenpe.com.pem
Adding debian:thawte_Primary_Root_CA_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:VeriSign_Class_3_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G4.pem
Adding debian:Verisign_Class_1_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority.pem
Adding debian:Comodo_Secure_Services_root.pem
Adding debian:America_Online_Root_Certification_Authority_1.pem
Adding debian:Taiwan_GRCA.pem
Adding debian:ValiCert_Class_2_VA.pem
Adding debian:NetLock_Arany_=Class_Gold=_Főtanúsítvány.pem
Adding debian:ACEDICOM_Root.pem
Adding debian:Camerfirma_Global_Chambersign_Root.pem
Adding debian:NetLock_Express_=Class_C=_Root.pem
Adding debian:Starfield_Services_Root_Certificate_Authority_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:Deutsche_Telekom_Root_CA_2.pem
Adding debian:Autoridad_de_Certificacion_Firmaprofesional_CIF_A62634068.pem
Adding debian:AffirmTrust_Networking.pem
Adding debian:TC_TrustCenter_Universal_CA_I.pem
Adding debian:DST_Root_CA_X3.pem
Adding debian:GeoTrust_Global_CA_2.pem
Adding debian:AddTrust_Public_Services_Root.pem
Adding debian:Digital_Signature_Trust_Co._Global_CA_1.pem
Adding debian:Verisign_Class_1_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:Staat_der_Nederlanden_Root_CA_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:Thawte_Premium_Server_CA.pem
Adding debian:Verisign_Class_1_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G3.pem
Adding debian:AffirmTrust_Premium_ECC.pem
Adding debian:Sonera_Class_2_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:NetLock_Business_=Class_B=_Root.pem
Adding debian:GeoTrust_Primary_Certification_Authority.pem
Adding debian:Buypass_Class_2_CA_1.pem
Adding debian:E-Guven_Kok_Elektronik_Sertifika_Hizmet_Saglayicisi.pem
Adding debian:Certum_Trusted_Network_CA.pem
Adding debian:TWCA_Root_Certification_Authority.pem
Adding debian:GeoTrust_Universal_CA_2.pem
Adding debian:Starfield_Class_2_CA.pem
Adding debian:UTN_USERFirst_Hardware_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:DigiCert_Assured_ID_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:Hongkong_Post_Root_CA_1.pem
Adding debian:Sonera_Class_1_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:DigiCert_High_Assurance_EV_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:COMODO_ECC_Certification_Authority.pem
Adding debian:UTN_DATACorp_SGC_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:AffirmTrust_Commercial.pem
Adding debian:GeoTrust_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:WellsSecure_Public_Root_Certificate_Authority.pem
Adding debian:GTE_CyberTrust_Global_Root.pem
Adding debian:IGC_A.pem
Adding debian:DigiCert_Global_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:Certigna.pem
Adding debian:Equifax_Secure_eBusiness_CA_1.pem
Adding debian:Go_Daddy_Class_2_CA.pem
Adding debian:A-Trust-nQual-03.pem
Adding debian:Comodo_Trusted_Services_root.pem
Adding debian:Network_Solutions_Certificate_Authority.pem
Adding debian:ca.pem
Adding debian:AddTrust_Qualified_Certificates_Root.pem
Adding debian:Verisign_Class_3_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority.pem
Adding debian:CA_Disig.pem
Adding debian:Verisign_Class_2_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:Equifax_Secure_Global_eBusiness_CA.pem
Adding debian:Thawte_Server_CA.pem
Adding debian:NetLock_Qualified_=Class_QA=_Root.pem
Adding debian:TC_TrustCenter_Universal_CA_III.pem
Adding debian:Microsec_e-Szigno_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:America_Online_Root_Certification_Authority_2.pem
Adding debian:Entrust.net_Premium_2048_Secure_Server_CA.pem
Adding debian:Cybertrust_Global_Root.pem
Adding debian:NetLock_Notary_=Class_A=_Root.pem
Adding debian:TC_TrustCenter_Class_2_CA_II.pem
Adding debian:Equifax_Secure_eBusiness_CA_2.pem
Adding debian:AC_Raíz_Certicámara_S.A..pem
Adding debian:TDC_OCES_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:Camerfirma_Chambers_of_Commerce_Root.pem
Adding debian:Entrust.net_Secure_Server_CA.pem
Adding debian:Verisign_Class_2_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority.pem
Adding debian:Comodo_AAA_Services_root.pem
Adding debian:Equifax_Secure_CA.pem
Adding debian:UbuntuOne-Go_Daddy_Class_2_CA.pem
Adding debian:Verisign_Class_4_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G3.pem
Adding debian:Firmaprofesional_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:Security_Communication_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:AddTrust_External_Root.pem
Adding debian:Verisign_Class_2_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G3.pem
Adding debian:Global_Chambersign_Root_-_2008.pem
Adding debian:cacert.org.pem
Adding debian:RSA_Root_Certificate_1.pem
Adding debian:Buypass_Class_3_CA_1.pem
Adding debian:Go_Daddy_Root_Certificate_Authority_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:thawte_Primary_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:Wells_Fargo_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:ValiCert_Class_1_VA.pem
Adding debian:StartCom_Certification_Authority.pem
Adding debian:Microsec_e-Szigno_Root_CA_2009.pem
Adding debian:EBG_Elektronik_Sertifika_Hizmet_Sağlayıcısı.pem
Adding debian:Visa_eCommerce_Root.pem
Adding debian:Baltimore_CyberTrust_Root.pem
Adding debian:ePKI_Root_Certification_Authority.pem
Adding debian:UTN_USERFirst_Email_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:TÜBİTAK_UEKAE_Kök_Sertifika_Hizmet_Sağlayıcısı_-_Sürüm_3.pem
Adding debian:ApplicationCA_-_Japanese_Government.pem
Adding debian:thawte_Primary_Root_CA_-_G3.pem
Adding debian:Digital_Signature_Trust_Co._Global_CA_3.pem
Adding debian:GeoTrust_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G3.pem
Adding debian:S-TRUST_Authentication_and_Encryption_Root_CA_2005_PN.pem
Adding debian:TURKTRUST_Certificate_Services_Provider_Root_1.pem
Adding debian:spi-cacert-2008.pem
Adding debian:AffirmTrust_Premium.pem
Adding debian:Certum_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:Verisign_Class_3_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G3.pem
Adding debian:DST_ACES_CA_X6.pem
Adding debian:AddTrust_Low-Value_Services_Root.pem
Adding debian:VeriSign_Class_3_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G5.pem
Adding debian:SecureTrust_CA.pem
Adding debian:spi-ca-2003.pem
Adding debian:Chambers_of_Commerce_Root_-_2008.pem
Adding debian:SecureSign_RootCA11.pem
Adding debian:XRamp_Global_CA_Root.pem
Adding debian:GeoTrust_Global_CA.pem
Adding debian:Juur-SK.pem
Adding debian:OISTE_WISeKey_Global_Root_GA_CA.pem
Adding debian:Verisign_Class_3_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:QuoVadis_Root_CA_3.pem
Adding debian:Security_Communication_EV_RootCA1.pem
Adding debian:Root_CA_Generalitat_Valenciana.pem
Adding debian:SwissSign_Platinum_CA_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:certSIGN_ROOT_CA.pem
Adding debian:ComSign_Secured_CA.pem
Adding debian:TC_TrustCenter_Class_3_CA_II.pem
Adding debian:GlobalSign_Root_CA_-_R3.pem
Adding debian:Verisign_Class_4_Public_Primary_Certification_Authority_-_G2.pem
Adding debian:QuoVadis_Root_CA.pem
Adding debian:ComSign_CA.pem
Adding debian:UbuntuOne-Go_Daddy_CA.pem
Adding debian:SwissSign_Silver_CA_-_G2.pem
done.
Setting up icedtea-7-jre-jamvm (7u7-2.3.2a-0ubuntu0.12.04.1) ...
Setting up openjdk-7-jre-lib (7u7-2.3.2a-0ubuntu0.12.04.1) ...
seth@oldbox:~/Downloads$ java -jar multibit-0.4.12-linux.jar
Welcome to the installation of MultiBit 0.4.12!
The homepage is at: http://multibit.org/
press 1 to continue, 2 to quit, 3 to redisplay
1
Copyright (c) 2012 MultiBit Developers
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or
sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom
the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall
be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE
OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
press 1 to accept, 2 to reject, 3 to redisplay
1
Select target path [/home/seth/Downloads]

press 1 to continue, 2 to quit, 3 to redisplay
1
[ Starting to unpack ]
[ Processing package: MultiBit (1/1) ]
[ Unpacking finished ]
Install was successful
application installed onhome/seth/Downloads
[ Console installation done ]
seth@oldbox:~/Downloads$ java -jar multibit-exe.jar
23:36:13.524 [main] INFO  o.m.ApplicationDataDirectoryLocator - Application data directory.1 = '/home/seth/MultiBit'
23:36:13.553 [main] INFO  o.m.ApplicationDataDirectoryLocator - Application data directory.1 - Log files are '/home/seth/MultiBit/multibit_console.log' and '/home/seth/MultiBit/multibit_debug.log'.
seth@oldbox:~/Downloads$ cdhome/seth/MultiBit
seth@oldbox:~/MultiBit$ java -jar multibit-exe.jar
Error: Unable to access jarfile multibit-exe.jar
seth@oldbox:~/MultiBit$ cdhome/seth/Downloads
seth@oldbox:~/Downloads$ java -jar multibit-exe.jar
23:40:26.624 [main] INFO  o.m.ApplicationDataDirectoryLocator - Application data directory.1 = '/home/seth/MultiBit'
23:40:26.668 [main] INFO  o.m.ApplicationDataDirectoryLocator - Application data directory.1 - Log files are '/home/seth/MultiBit/multibit_console.log' and '/home/seth/MultiBit/multibit_debug.log'.
seth@oldbox:~/Downloads$ lesshome/seth/MultiBit/multibit_debug.log
/home/seth/MultiBit/multibit_debug.log: No such file or directory
seth@oldbox:~/Downloads$ cdhome/seth/MultiBit
seth@oldbox:~/MultiBit$ ls
log  multibit.properties
seth@oldbox:~/MultiBit$ cd ./log
seth@oldbox:~/MultiBit/log$ ls
multibit_console.log  multibit_debug.log
seth@oldbox:~/MultiBit/log$ less multibit_debug.log
seth@oldbox:~/MultiBit/log$

And here is the tail end of my debug log:

23:40:26.788 [main] DEBUG o.m.ApplicationInstanceManager - Listening for application instances on socket 8331
23:40:26.790 [main] DEBUG org.multibit.MultiBit - userLanguageCode = en
23:40:26.797 [main] DEBUG org.multibit.MultiBit - Creating model
23:40:26.829 [main] DEBUG org.multibit.model.MultiBitModel - Initial view from properties file is '17'
23:40:26.830 [main] DEBUG org.multibit.MultiBit - Setting look and feel
23:40:27.237 [main] DEBUG org.multibit.MultiBit - Creating views
23:40:27.374 [main] ERROR org.multibit.MultiBit - An unexpected error caused MultiBit to quit.
23:40:27.375 [main] ERROR org.multibit.MultiBit - The error was 'java.awt.HeadlessException null'
23:40:27.375 [main] ERROR org.multibit.MultiBit - Please read http://multibit.org/help_troubleshooting.html for help on troubleshooting.
23:40:27.441 [main] DEBUG o.m.v.swing.action.ExitAction - Saving user preferences ...
23:40:27.441 [main] DEBUG org.multibit.file.FileHandler - When writing wallets, there were 0
23:40:27.470 [main] DEBUG o.m.v.swing.action.ExitAction - Shutting down Bitcoin URI checker ...
23:40:27.471 [main] DEBUG o.m.ApplicationInstanceManager - Making request to shut down socket ...

This discussion looks similar:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5362512/unable-to-run-java-gui-programs-with-ubuntu

They suggest it is the specific version of Java being used.

If you install a different version of Java MultiBit will pick it up when it starts.
You don't need to reinstall MultiBit itself. (for future reference, you can uninstall MultiBit if you want using 'java -jar uninstaller.jar')

To get a scroll window you surround the scroll text with 'code' tags. Select the text and then click the # button in the text formatting icons.

Hi Mila,

Did you get the notification last night ?
To save spamming people too much I normally do the notification mails when I add terms and know that I am preparing a release within a few days. That way it gives a chance for translators to 'catch the release'.

I will start doing the notify emails a bit more (say after adding a larger number of terms too) if you think it would be helpful.

Yeah I think you are right - I think I will start notifying a bit more.

Hi Daily Anarchist,

That is good that you got it running.

The wallets have a logical connection to the blockchain, in that as new blocks appear they are searched for any transactions relevant to the wallets and then these transactions are put in the wallet. This is done as the blocks appear.

As you have a fresh install the new MultiBit has seen that it has no wallets (yet) and so updated directly to the head of the blockchain.
What MultiBit *should* do when a wallet is opened is check the last block that the wallet saw and go back and sync to that date. I say *should* because I have not implemented that so you have to do it manually.

Actually I would wait for a day or two until the next MultiBit release (0.4.13) as I have been doing some bug fixes and improvements in this area.

What you do is:
 1) go to the 'Tools | Reset blockchain and transactions' page.
 2) click on the 'Specify reset date' and choose a date before the period that you are missing transactions.
 3) click on the 'Reset blockchain and transactions'.
 4) MultiBit then replays the blocks from that date - just let it run and any transactions from that period will appear in your wallets.

It is worth just leaving it to 'do its thing' when it is replaying the blocks so that it updates fully.

I hope that makes sense !
Like I say, I've been doing some bug fixes in this area (amoungst others) so I recommend waiting for MultiBit 0.4.13 as it might save you some effort.

For the code on the multibit.org website, it is pretty easy to upgrade as all the wallets/ user data are separate to the code.

You run the installer (or on a Mac copy the app to the Applications directory) and when you open the new MultiBit it picks up all your wallets and settings.


Uninstalling
On Win and Linux, there is an 'uninstall' shortcut and on the Mac you just delete the 'MultiBit-old-version.app'.
(I must admit I don't bother deleting the old versions as I use them for regression testing).


For the record: The 0.5.x beta versions are slightly different in that they work in a 'sandbox' to keep the encrypted wallets separate to the production wallets.

I am hoping to get the 0.4.13 out today or tomorrow.

Then I will put all the changes from the last few weeks into 0.5.5.
I also want to add in automatic export of encrypted private keys when you add new receiving addresses. There is also a report of a bug that sometimes incorrectly stores the wallets in the old format (which could wipe the encrypted private keys) that I need to fix. Always backup your wallets.

It is probably a week away.

Hi Nachtwind,

RPC and/or a command line onto the MultiBit data model would be useful but I don't plan to put RPC into MultiBit for a few reasons:
1) it opens up the attack surface so people will start hunting for unsecured RPC ports. At the moment MultiBit is as silent as I can make it (and will become more so in the future).
2) there is only so much a single dev can do
3) a better RPC command line solution would be to use the wallets and object model and do a console application that does everything. You do not need all the GUI code for a server - better to strip it all away.

I did some initial work on this (MultiBitShell - there is a topic on it in this forum) based on a command line parser created by Mike Hearn. The MultiBit datamodel is pretty much all in bitcoinj format data. With the wallets now in protobuf format any C++, Java, python programmer can now parse the wallets.

It would make an interesting project for someone to pick up but honestly I do not have the spare capacity to do it properly and securely.

Jim

thanks! big thumbs up (for the checklist)
i had a big smile on my face going through it