Seems that mysql-connector-java still ships AOT bits and therefore requires gcj - those bits should be removed to work with just any jre (most importantly openjdk) instead. (At least that's what I understood Alexander Kurtakov tried to say in bug 668320 :) )
Done, sorry about the delay
mysql-connector-java-5.1.17-5.fc17 has been submitted as an update for Fedora 17. https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/mysql-connector-java-5.1.17-5.fc17
would you also submit a fixed build for f16?
Package mysql-connector-java-5.1.17-5.fc17: * should fix your issue, * was pushed to the Fedora 17 testing repository, * should be available at your local mirror within two days. Update it with: # su -c 'yum update --enablerepo=updates-testing mysql-connector-java-5.1.17-5.fc17' as soon as you are able to. Please go to the following url: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2012-7398/mysql-connector-java-5.1.17-5.fc17 then log in and leave karma (feedback).
mysql-connector-java-5.1.17-5.fc17 has been pushed to the Fedora 17 stable repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.