This might be related to #2092 since the problems are similar.

Running Parabola GNU/Linux-libre x86_64. I get the following message after typing "arduino" in a terminal in XFCE:

<pre>
$ arduino
Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS:
java.lang.NullPointerException
at processing.app.BaseNoGui.onBoardOrPortChange(BaseNoGui.java:679)
at processing.app.Base.onBoardOrPortChange(Base.java:1312)
at processing.app.Base.<init>(Base.java:282)
at processing.app.Base.main(Base.java:151)
</pre>

I have the following packages installed on my system:

jre8-openjdk 8.u202-1
arduino 1:1.8.8-1
gtk2 2.24.32-1