java.lang.AbstractMethodError: javax.servlet.jsp.JspFactory.getJspApplicationContext(Ljavax/servlet/ServletContext;)

Question

java.lang.AbstractMethodError: javax.servlet.jsp.JspFactory.getJspApplicationContext(Ljavax/servlet/ServletContext;)Ljavax/servlet/jsp/JspApplicationContext;

Hi, I'm developing a web server in vaadin. My application worked fine, but now when I start it, I have the following error

java.lang.AbstractMethodError: javax.servlet.jsp.JspFactory.getJspApplicationContext(Ljavax/servlet/ServletContext;)Ljavax/servlet/jsp/JspApplicationContext;
at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Validator$ValidateVisitor.<init>(Validator.java:515) ~[jasper.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Validator.validateExDirectives(Validator.java:1845) ~[jasper.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.generateJava(Compiler.java:217) ~[jasper.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:373) ~[jasper.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:353) ~[jasper.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:340) ~[jasper.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.jasper.JspCompilationContext.compile(JspCompilationContext.java:657) ~[jasper.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:357) ~[jasper.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:390) ~[jasper.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:334) ~[jasper.jar:7.0.55]
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:727) ~[servlet-api.jar:na]
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:303) ~[catalina.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) ~[catalina.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:220) ~[catalina.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:122) [catalina.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:171) [catalina.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:103) [catalina.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.SingleSignOn.invoke(SingleSignOn.java:312) [catalina.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:116) [catalina.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:408) [catalina.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1070) [tomcat-coyote.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:611) [tomcat-coyote.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1736) [tomcat-coyote.jar:7.0.55]
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(NioEndpoint.java:1695) [tomcat-coyote.jar:7.0.55]
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142) [na:1.8.0_25]
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617) [na:1.8.0_25]
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61) [tomcat-coyote.jar:7.0.55]
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745) [na:1.8.0_25]

For the dependencies I'm using maven and my pom is

<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>ContestiOpenDataJungle</groupId>
<artifactId>ContestiOpenDataJungle</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<packaging>war</packaging>

<parent>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <version>1.2.5.RELEASE</version>
</parent>

<properties>
    <vaadin.version>7.4.4</vaadin.version>
    <java.version>1.7</java.version>
    <tomcat.version>7.0.59</tomcat.version>
</properties>

<repositories>
    <repository>
        <id>eXo-pub-repo</id>
        <name>eXoPlatform public repo</name>
        <url>http://repository.exoplatform.org/public</url>
    </repository>

    <repository>
        <id>vaadin-addons</id>
        <url>http://maven.vaadin.com/vaadin-addons</url>
    </repository>
</repositories>

<dependencies>
    <!-- The core server part of Vaadin -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.vaadin</groupId>
        <artifactId>vaadin-server</artifactId>
        <version>${vaadin.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Vaadin themes -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.vaadin</groupId>
        <artifactId>vaadin-themes</artifactId>
        <version>${vaadin.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Push support -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.vaadin</groupId>
        <artifactId>vaadin-push</artifactId>
        <version>${vaadin.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- Precompiled DefaultWidgetSet -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.vaadin</groupId>
        <artifactId>vaadin-client-compiled</artifactId>
        <version>${vaadin.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Compiler for custom widget sets. Should not be deployed -->
    <!-- <dependency> -->
    <!-- <groupId>com.vaadin</groupId> -->
    <!-- <artifactId>vaadin-client-compiler</artifactId> -->
    <!-- <version>${vaadin.version}</version> -->
    <!-- </dependency> -->

    <!-- Vaadin client side, needed for widget set compilation -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.vaadin</groupId>
        <artifactId>vaadin-client</artifactId>
        <version>${vaadin.version}</version>
        <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
                <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Compiler for custom widget sets. Should not be deployed -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.exoplatform.core</groupId>
        <artifactId>exo.core.component.security.core</artifactId>
        <version>2.5.12-GA</version>
        <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
        <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.1.0.Final</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>groupId</groupId>
        <artifactId>artifactId</artifactId>
        <version>1.0</version>
        <scope>system</scope>
        <systemPath>${basedir}/WebContent/WEB-INF/lib/TagCloud.jar</systemPath>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>eu.exeura</groupId>
        <artifactId>DBSQLContesti2</artifactId>
        <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-jdbc</artifactId>
        <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-logging</artifactId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
    </dependency>


    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.vaadin</groupId>
        <artifactId>vaadin-spring-boot</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0.beta2</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.portlet</groupId>
        <artifactId>portlet-api</artifactId>
        <version>2.0</version>
        <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>ru.xpoft.vaadin</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-vaadin-integration</artifactId>
        <version>3.1</version>
        <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
                <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
        <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-webmvc-portlet</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.vaadin</groupId>
        <artifactId>vaadin-spring</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0.beta1</version>
        <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
                <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
            </exclusion>
            <exclusion>
                <groupId>com.vaadin</groupId>
                <artifactId>vaadin-server</artifactId>
            </exclusion>
            <exclusion>
                <groupId>com.vaadin</groupId>
                <artifactId>vaadin-shared</artifactId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>


    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
    </dependency>

</dependencies>

<build>
    <sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory>
    <testSourceDirectory>test</testSourceDirectory>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <source>${java.version}</source>
                <target>${java.version}</target>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <warName>ContestiOpenDataJungle</warName>
                <warSourceDirectory>WebContent</warSourceDirectory>
                <failOnMissingWebXml>false</failOnMissingWebXml>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

The server is Tomcat version 7.0.59. The version java is 1.7. I found the error maybe is for the following jars:

servlet.jar
servlet-api.jar
j2ee.jar

because they have the file javax.servlet, but I have not them. https://community.oracle.com/thread/1397338?start=0

Thanks for the help

Answer 1

There may be a versioning issue between what the library containing org.apache.jasper.compiler.Validator expects as a class definition for the javax.servlet.jsp.JspFactory implementation it gets.

Having 3 jars with the same binary name for classes is not a good practice. Unless you know which class the classloader will pick you're in the dark on what the behaviour will be. Reduce the number of jars to include only the one you need.

If then you still have this conflict check the dependency tree for the library containing org.apache.jasper.compiler.Validator and make sure the javax.servlet.jsp.JspFactory implementation you make available implements the interface specification you find in the dependency tree.

What happens is something like:

-- my-framework-1.0.0 --
interface A {
  method b ();
}

class AFactory {
  A getDefault () { ... }

-- my-framework-2.0.0 --
interface A {
  method b(String s);
}

class AFactory {
  A getDefault () { ... }

-- my-implementation --
class B {
  public void act () {
    AFactory.getDefault().b();
  }
}

This will work fine as long as you deploy with my-framework-1.0.0. Deploying with my-frameworke-2.0.0 will make it break.

You may not see this issue in your IDE if its classloader picks my-framework-1.0.0 for compiling but your packager picks my-frameworke-2.0.0.

Answer 2

You are missing the following dependecy from your project:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.embed</groupId>
    <artifactId>tomcat-embed-jasper</artifactId>
    <version>7.0.59</version>
</dependency>