Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)

when I am using the oracle thin driver I'm getting the following error
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.AbstractMethodError: oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDatabaseMetaData.supportsSavepoints()Z
at Svpt1.main(Svpt1.java:31)

but when odbc driver is used the

Checking savepoint support ...
Savepoint is not supported
Insert record(10, 'newregion1') ...
Establish savepoint 1 ...
Unexpected Exception null
java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException
at sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcConnection.setSavepoint(JdbcOdbcConnection.java
:1713)
at Svpt1.main(Svpt1.java:49)

please tell me why this difference and how can I use savepoint with oracle 8i.

I'm using Oracle 8i and j2sdk1.5.0_06

import java.sql.*;
public class Svpt1
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
Connection conn = null;
Statement stmt = null;
int rows = 0;
try
{
// Load the Oracle JDBC driver
DriverManager.registerDriver(new oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver());

String jdbcUrl = "jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:gdn";
// Connect to the database
conn = DriverManager.getConnection (jdbcUrl, "srg", "srg");

// Create a Statement
stmt = conn.createStatement();

// Cleanup table to original state
stmt.execute("DELETE FROM employees WHERE ssn=10");

// Turn off the auto-commit mode
conn.setAutoCommit(false);

DatabaseMetaData dbmd = conn.getMetaData();

// Check whether Savepoint is supported
show("Checking savepoint support ...");
if (dbmd.supportsSavepoints())
show("Savepoint is supported");
else
show("Savepoint is not supported");

// Insert a new record into the "regions" table
show("Insert record(10, 'newregion1') ...");
rows = stmt.executeUpdate("insert into employees(ssn,name) values (10, 'newregion1')");
// Establish the first savepoint (named)
show("Establish savepoint 1 ...");
Savepoint svpt1 = conn.setSavepoint("svpt_1");

// Insert a second record into the "regions" table
show("Insert record(11, 'newregion2') ...");
rows = stmt.executeUpdate("insert into employees(ssn,name) values (11, 'newregion2')");

// Establish the second savepoint (named)
show("Establish savepoint 2 ...");
Savepoint svpt2 = conn.setSavepoint("svpt_2");

// Establish the third savepoint (unnamed)
show("Establish savepoint 3 ...");
Savepoint svpt3 = conn.setSavepoint();

// Insert a third record into the "regions" table
show("Insert record(12, 'newregion3') ...");
rows = stmt.executeUpdate("insert into employees(ssn,name) values (12, 'newregion3')");

// Check names and ids of established Savepoints
show("The name of txn savepoint 1 is: " + svpt1.getSavepointName());
show("The name of txn savepoint 2 is: " + svpt2.getSavepointName());
show("The id of txn savepoint 3 is: " + svpt3.getSavepointId());

// Rollback to the first savepoint
show("Rollback to savepoint 1 ...");
conn.rollback(svpt1);

// Commit the transaction
show("Commit the transaction ...");
conn.commit();

// Close the Statement
stmt.close();

// Close the Connection
conn.close();
}//try
catch(SQLException sqlexc)
{
show("Unexpected SQL Exception " + sqlexc.getMessage());
sqlexc.printStackTrace();
}
catch(Exception exc)
{
show("Unexpected Exception " + exc.getMessage());
exc.printStackTrace();
}
}//main
static void show(String mesg)
{
System.out.println(mesg);
}
}//class

thanks in advance.