Vaadin Hello World not starting

Question

I followed the vaadin tutorial step by step. I can publish the newly created app in eclipse to tomcat without any issues whatsoever. However, when I try to launch the server I get this stacktrace:

May 23, 2014 12:40:13 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.SetPropertiesRule begin
WARNING: [SetPropertiesRule]{Server/Service/Engine/Host/Context} Setting property 'source' to 'org.eclipse.jst.jee.server:Babylon' did not find a matching property.
May 23, 2014 12:40:13 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init
INFO: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-8080"]
May 23, 2014 12:40:14 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
INFO: Initialization processed in 759 ms
May 23, 2014 12:40:14 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService startInternal
INFO: Starting service Catalina
May 23, 2014 12:40:14 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine startInternal
INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/7.0.26
May 23, 2014 12:40:14 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase startInternal
SEVERE: A child container failed during start
java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[/Babylon]]
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.report(FutureTask.java:122)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:192)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1128)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:782)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1566)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1556)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[/Babylon]]
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
    ... 6 more
Caused by: org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassFormatException: Invalid byte tag in constant pool: 15
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.Constant.readConstant(Constant.java:131)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ConstantPool.<init>(ConstantPool.java:60)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassParser.readConstantPool(ClassParser.java:209)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassParser.parse(ClassParser.java:119)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsStream(ContextConfig.java:2032)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsJar(ContextConfig.java:1923)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsUrl(ContextConfig.java:1891)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotations(ContextConfig.java:1877)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.webConfig(ContextConfig.java:1270)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.configureStart(ContextConfig.java:855)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:345)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:119)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:90)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5161)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    ... 6 more

May 23, 2014 12:40:14 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase startInternal
SEVERE: A child container failed during start
java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost]]
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.report(FutureTask.java:122)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:192)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1128)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:302)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:443)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:732)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:645)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:483)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:322)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:450)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost]]
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1566)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1556)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: A child container failed during start
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1136)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:782)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    ... 6 more

May 23, 2014 12:40:14 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
SEVERE: Catalina.start: 
org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardServer[8005]]
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:645)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:483)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:322)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:450)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardService[Catalina]]
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:732)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    ... 7 more
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina]]
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:443)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    ... 9 more
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: A child container failed during start
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1136)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:302)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    ... 11 more

May 23, 2014 12:40:14 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 924 ms

I am running tomcat 7 on debian linux (installed via apt-get) and am using the newest eclipse EE, all the libs should be managed by IVY and I have lots of IVY brnaches under my build path.

Answer 1

A invalid class format exception is usually thrown when you compile a java class with a higher version than you are running it later.

Caused by: org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassFormatException: Invalid byte tag in constant pool: 15

For example compiling the .java file with JDK 1.8 and then Tomcat running with JDK 1.7

If the java compiler version matches the runtime java of the tomcat, then it might be this issue: org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassFormatException: Invalid byte tag in constant pool: 15 - Tomcat 7, JDK incompatibilty?