FileNotFoundException: class path resource [WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml] cannot be opened because it does not exist when it does exist

Question

I have placed my dispatcher-servlet.xml inside the WEB-INF folder which is placed inside webapp folder. Still it is throwing error as:class path resource [WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml] cannot be opened because it does not exist.

Exception:Unexpected exception parsing XML document from class path resource [WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml]; nested exception is java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.springframework.beans.MutablePropertyValues.add(Ljava/lang/String;Ljava/lang/Object;)Lorg/springframework/beans/MutablePropertyValues;

Unable to track the error,where it is going wrong?

Below is my dispatcher-servlet.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>    
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
       xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
       xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
       xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc" 
       xsi:schemaLocation="
           http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
           http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.1.xsd
           http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
           http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.1.xsd
           http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-3.0.xsd">
    <!-- Activates various annotations to be detected in bean classes -->
    <context:annotation-config />
    <mvc:annotation-driven/>
    <context:component-scan base-package="com.travel.test"/>

    <mvc:resources mapping="/resources/**" location="/resources/" />

    <bean id="messageSource"
        class="org.springframework.context.support.ReloadableResourceBundleMessageSource">
        <property name="basename"
            value="classpath:com/travel/test/i18n" />
        <property name="defaultEncoding" value="UTF-8" />
    </bean>

    <bean id="localeResolver"
        class="org.springframework.web.servlet.i18n.CookieLocaleResolver">
        <property name="defaultLocale" value="en_US" />
        <property name="cookieName" value="AppLocaleCookie"></property>
        <property name="cookieMaxAge" value="3600"></property>
    </bean>

    <mvc:interceptors>
        <bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.i18n.LocaleChangeInterceptor">
            <property name="paramName" value="locale" />
        </bean>
    </mvc:interceptors>

    <bean class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer">
      <property name="ignoreResourceNotFound" value="false" />
      <property name="ignoreUnresolvablePlaceholders" value="true" />
      <property name="locations">
          <list>
            <value>classpath:com/travel/test/${Environment:e0}-env.properties</value>
          </list>
      </property>
     </bean>    

    <mvc:resources location="/static/" mapping="/static/**"/>
  <!--  <bean id="multipartResolver" class="org.springframework.web.multipart.commons.CommonsMultipartResolver" />-->

      <bean id="tilesViewResolver" class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.UrlBasedViewResolver" p:viewClass="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles2.TilesView"/>

    <bean id="tilesConfigurer" class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles2.TilesConfigurer" p:definitions="/WEB-INF/conf/tiles-defs.xml" /> 

</beans>

And below is the pom.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<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/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">

    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.aexp.travel.docdelivery.tcapp</groupId>
    <artifactId>travel</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>
    <name>travel</name>


    <properties>
        <spring.version>3.1.0.RELEASE</spring.version>
        <slf.version>1.6.1</slf.version>
        <tiles.version>2.2.2</tiles.version>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8
        </project.build.sourceEncoding>
    </properties>



    <dependencies>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
            <version>${slf.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
            <version>${slf.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
            <version>${slf.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>log4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
            <version>1.2.16</version>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
            <exclusions>
                <exclusion>
                    <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
                    <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
                </exclusion>
            </exclusions>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
            <exclusions>
                <exclusion>
                    <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
                    <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
                </exclusion>
            </exclusions>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
            <version>2.5</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
            <artifactId>tiles-api</artifactId>
            <version>${tiles.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
            <artifactId>tiles-core</artifactId>
            <version>${tiles.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
            <artifactId>tiles-jsp</artifactId>
            <version>${tiles.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
            <artifactId>tiles-servlet</artifactId>
            <version>${tiles.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
            <artifactId>tiles-template</artifactId>
            <version>${tiles.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>net.sf</groupId>
            <artifactId>json-lib</artifactId>
            <version>2.0</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>commons-lang</groupId>
            <artifactId>commons-lang</artifactId>
            <version>2.3</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>net.sf</groupId>
            <artifactId>ezmorph</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.3</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-test</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.easymock</groupId>
            <artifactId>easymock</artifactId>
            <version>3.0</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>cglib</groupId>
            <artifactId>cglib</artifactId>
            <version>2.1</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.objenesis</groupId>
            <artifactId>objenesis</artifactId>
            <version>1.2</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>4.8.1</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>commons-collections</groupId> 
            <artifactId>commons-collections</artifactId> 
            <version>3.2.1</version> 
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
            <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
            <version>2.0.1</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.jboss.resteasy</groupId>
            <artifactId>resteasy-jaxrs</artifactId>
            <version>2.1.0.GA</version>
            <exclusions>
                <exclusion>
                    <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
                    <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
                </exclusion>
            </exclusions>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.jboss.resteasy</groupId>
            <artifactId>jaxrs-api</artifactId>
            <version>2.0.1.GA</version>
        </dependency> 
        <dependency>
            <groupId>commons-beanutils</groupId>
            <artifactId>commons-beanutils</artifactId>
            <version>1.8.0</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
            <artifactId>jackson-core-asl</artifactId>
            <version>1.5.3</version>
           </dependency>
           <dependency>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
            <artifactId>jackson-mapper-asl</artifactId>
            <version>1.5.3</version>
           </dependency>

    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.1</version>
                <configuration>
                    <source>1.6</source>
                    <target>1.6</target>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

Any suggestion where it is wrong?

Answer 1

Update

Your project is using too old dependencies

Change like this to use Java 8 in your pom.xm

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.5.1</version>
            <configuration>
                <source>1.8</source>
                <target>1.8</target>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

And use this version of spring for your legacy project

<spring.version>3.0.5.RELEASE</spring.version>

---

Please make sure you have this kind of configuration in your web.xml

  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>contextConfiguration</param-name>
      <param-value>/WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
  </servlet>

  <servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>