attempting to assign weaker access privileges

Java error "attempting to assign weaker access privileges" can happen when we override a superclass method in the subclass if the access modifier is not correctly chosen.

See the sample code below:

public class SuperClass
{
public void display()
{
System.out.println("this is super class");
}
}

public class Subclass extends SuperClass
{
private void display()
{
System.out.println("this is subclass");
}
}

If the above Subclass is compiled the error message will be:
display() in Subclass cannot override display() in SuperClass; attempting to assign weaker access privileges; was public

Let's understand the error message:
The method display has public access in the SuperClass and private access in the Subclass, that means when overriding this method, a weaker access privilege is going to be set (private is weaker access privilege than public).

So we need to know the allowed access modifier in the subclass for method overriding. The table below shows this:

Access modifier in super class method	Allowed access modifier for overriding
private	private, package, protected, public
package	package, protected, public
protected	protected, public
public	public