Possible Duplicate:
Why is the clone() method protected in java.lang.Object?

Here is my test code for checking the clone method working,

class Test{
  int a;
  public void setA(int value){
a = value;
  }
  public int getA(){
   return a;
  }
}
class TestClass{   
   public static void main(String args[]){
   Test obj1 = new Test();
   obj1.setA(100);
   Test obj2 = obj1.clone();
   System.out.println("obj1 A:"+obj1.getA()+" obj2 A:"+obj2.getA());
   obj2.setA(9999);
   System.out.println("obj1 A:"+obj1.getA()+" obj2 A:"+obj2.getA());
 }
}

Throws compilation error: clone() has protected access in java.lang.Object at obj1.clone()

  1. What I am doing wrong here?
  2. What is the reason behind clone() is protected?

Thanks

Edit along with Answer: Well at last I see my test harness is working when I implemented the Cloneable interface and overriden the clone method. It's not working with just overriding the clone() method from Object class. Here is the modified code,

class Test implements Cloneable{
 int a;
 public void setA(int value){
a = value;
 }
 public int getA(){
return a;
 }
@Override
protected Test clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException{    
  return(Test) super.clone();  
  }   
}
class TestClass{   
  public static void main(String args[]){
     Test obj1 = new Test();
   obj1.setA(100);
   try{
     Test obj2 = (Test)obj1.clone();
     System.out.println("obj1 A:"+obj1.getA()+" obj2 A:"+obj2.getA());
     obj2.setA(9999);
     System.out.println("obj1 A:"+obj1.getA()+" obj2 A:"+obj2.getA());       
   }catch(Exception e){
     System.out.println("ERror"+e);
     }         
    }
  }

2. Reason for clone() method being protect: I found this from the book Core Java

java clone
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