How to exclude CXF jars that JBOSS 7.1.1 loads by default?

Question

We want to exclude CXF modules from JBOSS AS 7.1.1 from being loaded at runtime so that we can use CXF 2.7.8 dependencies declared in our pom. We do not have privilege to change JBoss´s configuration, so removing subsystem from standalone.xml or modules from JBoss are out of the question. We are also stuck on JBoss 7.1.1, no upgrade is possible at the moment.

We tried configuring jboss-deployment-structure.xml as follows. Since 'exclude-subsystems' functionality and deployment-strucure:1.2 are not suported by JBoss AS 7.1.1 we tried this alternative approach without success:

<jboss-deployment-structure>
   <deployment>
      <dependencies>
         <module name="org.apache.cxf" export="true" />
      </dependencies>
      <exclusions>
        <module name="asm.asm" />
        <module name="javax.api" />
        <module name="javax.annotation.api" />
        <module name="javax.jms.api" />
        <module name="javax.jws.api" />
        <module name="javax.mail.api" />
        <module name="javax.resource.api" />
        <module name="javax.servlet.api" />
        <module name="javax.xml.bind.api"/>
        <module name="com.sun.xml.bind"/>
        <module name="javax.wsdl4j.api" />
        <module name="javax.xml.soap.api" />
        <module name="javax.xml.stream.api" />
        <module name="javax.xml.ws.api" />
        <module name="org.apache.commons.lang" />
        <module name="org.apache.neethi" />
        <module name="org.apache.velocity" />
        <module name="org.apache.xml-resolver" />
        <module name="org.apache.ws.xmlschema" />
        <module name="org.apache.ws.security" />
        <module name="org.apache.santuario.xmlsec" />
        <module name="org.springframework.spring"/>
      </exclusions>
   </deployment>
</jboss-deployment-structure>

StackTrace

14:24:14,429 WARN  [org.jboss.as.server.deployment] (MSC service thread 1-2) Class Path entry jaxb-api.jar in "/F:/Desenvolvimento/Programas/jboss-as-7.1.1.Final_Clean/jboss-as-7.1.1.Final/standalone/deployments/Test.war/WEB-INF/lib/jaxb-impl-2.2.6.jar"  does not point to a valid jar for a Class-Path reference.
14:24:14,618 WARN  [org.jboss.as.server.deployment] (MSC service thread 1-4) JBAS015893: Encountered invalid class name 'org.xmlpull.mxp1.MXParser,org.xmlpull.mxp1_serializer.MXSerializer' for service type 'org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserFactory'
14:24:14,791 WARN  [org.jboss.as.dependency.private] (MSC service thread 1-8) JBAS018567: Deployment "deployment.Test.war" is using a private module ("org.apache.cxf:main") which may be changed or removed in future versions without notice.
14:24:14,793 WARN  [org.jboss.as.dependency.private] (MSC service thread 1-8) JBAS018567: Deployment "deployment.Test.war" is using a private module ("org.apache.cxf:main") which may be changed or removed in future versions without notice.
14:24:14,840 ERROR [org.jboss.msc.service.fail] (MSC service thread 1-8) MSC00001: Failed to start service jboss.deployment.unit."Test.war".POST_MODULE: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit."Test.war".POST_MODULE: Failed to process phase POST_MODULE of deployment "Test.war"
    at org.jboss.as.server.deployment.DeploymentUnitPhaseService.start(DeploymentUnitPhaseService.java:119) [jboss-as-server-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
    at org.jboss.msc.service.ServiceControllerImpl$StartTask.startService(ServiceControllerImpl.java:1811) [jboss-msc-1.0.2.GA.jar:1.0.2.GA]
    at org.jboss.msc.service.ServiceControllerImpl$StartTask.run(ServiceControllerImpl.java:1746) [jboss-msc-1.0.2.GA.jar:1.0.2.GA]
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:895) [rt.jar:1.6.0_45]
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:918) [rt.jar:1.6.0_45]
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662) [rt.jar:1.6.0_45]
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Error getting reflective information for class org.apache.cxf.transport.servlet.CXFServlet with ClassLoader ModuleClassLoader for Module "org.apache.cxf:main" from local module loader @5e2b323e (roots: F:\Desenvolvimento\Programas\jboss-as-7.1.1.Final_Clean\jboss-as-7.1.1.Final\modules)
    at org.jboss.as.server.deployment.reflect.DeploymentReflectionIndex.getClassIndex(DeploymentReflectionIndex.java:70) [jboss-as-server-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
    at org.jboss.as.ee.metadata.MethodAnnotationAggregator.runtimeAnnotationInformation(MethodAnnotationAggregator.java:58)
    at org.jboss.as.ee.component.deployers.InterceptorAnnotationProcessor.handleAnnotations(InterceptorAnnotationProcessor.java:85)
    at org.jboss.as.ee.component.deployers.InterceptorAnnotationProcessor.processComponentConfig(InterceptorAnnotationProcessor.java:70)
    at org.jboss.as.ee.component.deployers.InterceptorAnnotationProcessor.deploy(InterceptorAnnotationProcessor.java:55)
    at org.jboss.as.server.deployment.DeploymentUnitPhaseService.start(DeploymentUnitPhaseService.java:113) [jboss-as-server-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
    ... 5 more
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/springframework/context/ApplicationContext
    at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredFields0(Native Method) [rt.jar:1.6.0_45]
    at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredFields(Class.java:2300) [rt.jar:1.6.0_45]
    at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredFields(Class.java:1745) [rt.jar:1.6.0_45]
    at org.jboss.as.server.deployment.reflect.ClassReflectionIndex.<init>(ClassReflectionIndex.java:57) [jboss-as-server-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
    at org.jboss.as.server.deployment.reflect.DeploymentReflectionIndex.getClassIndex(DeploymentReflectionIndex.java:66) [jboss-as-server-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final]
    ... 10 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext from [Module "org.apache.cxf:main" from local module loader @5e2b323e (roots: F:\Desenvolvimento\Programas\jboss-as-7.1.1.Final_Clean\jboss-as-7.1.1.Final\modules)]
    at org.jboss.modules.ModuleClassLoader.findClass(ModuleClassLoader.java:190) [jboss-modules.jar:1.1.1.GA]
    at org.jboss.modules.ConcurrentClassLoader.performLoadClassUnchecked(ConcurrentClassLoader.java:468) [jboss-modules.jar:1.1.1.GA]
    at org.jboss.modules.ConcurrentClassLoader.performLoadClassChecked(ConcurrentClassLoader.java:456) [jboss-modules.jar:1.1.1.GA]
    at org.jboss.modules.ConcurrentClassLoader.performLoadClassChecked(ConcurrentClassLoader.java:423) [jboss-modules.jar:1.1.1.GA]
    at org.jboss.modules.ConcurrentClassLoader.performLoadClass(ConcurrentClassLoader.java:398) [jboss-modules.jar:1.1.1.GA]
    at org.jboss.modules.ConcurrentClassLoader.loadClass(ConcurrentClassLoader.java:120) [jboss-modules.jar:1.1.1.GA]
    ... 15 more

14:24:14,871 INFO  [org.jboss.as] (MSC service thread 1-4) JBAS015951: Admin console listening on http://127.0.0.1:9990
14:24:14,873 ERROR [org.jboss.as] (MSC service thread 1-4) JBAS015875: JBoss AS 7.1.1.Final "Brontes" started (with errors) in 5959ms - Started 140 of 218 services (1 services failed or missing dependencies, 76 services are passive or on-demand)
14:24:14,873 INFO  [org.jboss.as.server] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 2) JBAS015870: Deploy of deployment "Test.war" was rolled back with failure message {"JBAS014671: Failed services" => {"jboss.deployment.unit.\"Test.war\".POST_MODULE" => "org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit.\"Test.war\".POST_MODULE: Failed to process phase POST_MODULE of deployment \"Test.war\""}}
14:24:15,243 INFO  [org.jboss.as.server.deployment] (MSC service thread 1-7) JBAS015877: Stopped deployment Test.war in 368ms
14:24:15,247 INFO  [org.jboss.as.controller] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 2) JBAS014774: Service status report
JBAS014777:   Services which failed to start:      service jboss.deployment.unit."Test.war".POST_MODULE: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit."Test.war".POST_MODULE: Failed to process phase POST_MODULE of deployment "Test.war"

14:24:15,254 ERROR [org.jboss.as.server.deployment.scanner] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 1) {"JBAS014653: Composite operation failed and was rolled back. Steps that failed:" => {"Operation step-2" => {"JBAS014671: Failed services" => {"jboss.deployment.unit.\"Test.war\".POST_MODULE" => "org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit.\"Test.war\".POST_MODULE: Failed to process phase POST_MODULE of deployment \"Test.war\""}}}}

Our pom

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>br.com.gid.ws</groupId>
    <artifactId>Test</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>war</packaging>
    <name>br.com.gid.ws</name>

    <properties>

        <project.build.sourceEncoding>ISO-8859-1</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <org.springframework.version>3.0.7.RELEASE</org.springframework.version>
        <org.apache.cxf.version>2.7.8</org.apache.cxf.version>

    </properties>

    <dependencies>


        <!--
            ################################################
            #################### SPRING ####################
            ################################################ 
        -->

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
            <version>${org.springframework.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
            <version>${org.springframework.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.ldap</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-ldap-core</artifactId>
            <version>1.3.2.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>       

        <dependency>
            <groupId>br.com.caelum.stella</groupId>
            <artifactId>caelum-stella-core</artifactId>
            <version>1.2</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.bouncycastle</groupId>
            <artifactId>bcprov-jdk15</artifactId>
            <version>1.46</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.thoughtworks.xstream</groupId>
            <artifactId>xstream</artifactId>
            <version>1.4.5</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>net.vidageek</groupId>
            <artifactId>mirror</artifactId>
            <version>1.6.1</version>
        </dependency>

        <!--
            ################################################
            ##################### CXF ######################
            ################################################  
        -->

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
            <artifactId>cxf-rt-frontend-jaxws</artifactId>
            <version>${org.apache.cxf.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
            <artifactId>cxf-rt-transports-http</artifactId>
            <version>${org.apache.cxf.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Jetty is needed if you're using the CXFServlet -->

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
            <artifactId>cxf-rt-transports-http-jetty</artifactId>
           <version>${org.apache.cxf.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
            <artifactId>cxf-rt-ws-rm</artifactId>
            <version>${org.apache.cxf.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
            <artifactId>cxf-rt-ws-security</artifactId>
            <version>${org.apache.cxf.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
            <artifactId>cxf-rt-ws-addr</artifactId>
            <version>${org.apache.cxf.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
            <artifactId>cxf-rt-ws-policy</artifactId>
            <version>${org.apache.cxf.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.eclipse.jetty</groupId>
            <artifactId>jetty-webapp</artifactId>
            <version>8.1.14.v20131031</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>log4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
            <version>1.2.17</version>
        </dependency>


    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.1</version>
                <configuration>
                    <webXml>src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml</webXml>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>

        <finalName>Test</finalName>

    </build>

</project>

Answer 1

this worked for me, copied from https://docs.jboss.org/author/display/AS72/Class+Loading+in+AS7

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<exclusions>
  <module name="javaee.api"/>
</exclusions>
<dependencies>
  <module name="javax.activation.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.annotation.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.ejb.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.el.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.enterprise.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.enterprise.deploy.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.inject.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.interceptor.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.jms.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.jws.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.mail.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.management.j2ee.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.persistence.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.resource.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.rmi.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.security.auth.message.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.security.jacc.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.servlet.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.servlet.jsp.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.transaction.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.validation.api" export="true"/>

<!-- <module name="javax.ws.rs.api" export="true" services="export"/> -->

  <module name="javax.xml.bind.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.xml.registry.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.xml.soap.api" export="true"/>
  <module name="javax.xml.ws.api" export="true"/>
  <!-- This one always goes last. -->
  <module name="javax.api" export="true"/>
</dependencies>

Answer 2

Theoretically class loader of application is superior to any other class loader in the hierarchy. You should not have a problem to pack CXF within the application's lib directory and use it.

Are you facing any problems with this approach?