Eclipse:Tomcat: Failed to read candidate component class:

Question

Can someone tell me how to solve this issue? As a freshman in Spring, I searched and tried a lot but still no ideas. This is my Java build path.

This is my pom.xml file

<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 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
      <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
      <groupId>net.codejava.contact</groupId>
      <artifactId>ContactManager</artifactId>
      <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
      <packaging>war</packaging>
      <build>
        <sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory>
        <plugins>
          <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.8.1</version>
            <configuration>
              <release>13</release>
            </configuration>
          </plugin>
          <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.2.3</version>
            <configuration>
              <warSourceDirectory>WebContent</warSourceDirectory>
            </configuration>
          </plugin>
        </plugins>
      </build>
      
      
      <properties>
          <spring.version>5.1.9.RELEASE</spring.version>
    </properties>
    
    
        <dependencies>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
                <version>${spring.version}</version>
            </dependency>
            
                <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
            <type>jar</type>
            <scope>compile</scope>
        </dependency>
        
     <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
            <version>3.1.0</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet.jsp</groupId>
            <artifactId>javax.servlet.jsp-api</artifactId>
            <version>2.3.1</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>jstl</groupId>
            <artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
            <version>1.2</version>
    </dependency>
    
    
        <dependency>
            <groupId>mysql</groupId>
            <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
            <version>5.1.46</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
</project>

The Tomcat error stack is as follow

Context initialization failed
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Failed to read candidate component class: file [C:\Users\Jaden\eclipse-workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\ContactManager\WEB-INF\classes\net\codejava\contact\config\SpringMvcConfig.class]; nested exception is org.springframework.core.NestedIOException: ASM ClassReader failed to parse class file - probably due to a new Java class file version that isn't supported yet: file [C:\Users\Jaden\eclipse-workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\ContactManager\WEB-INF\classes\net\codejava\contact\config\SpringMvcConfig.class]; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unsupported class file major version 57
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.scanCandidateComponents(ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.java:454)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.findCandidateComponents(ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.java:316)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathBeanDefinitionScanner.doScan(ClassPathBeanDefinitionScanner.java:275)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScanAnnotationParser.parse(ComponentScanAnnotationParser.java:132)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.doProcessConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassParser.java:287)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.processConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassParser.java:242)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.parse(ConfigurationClassParser.java:199)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.parse(ConfigurationClassParser.java:167)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.processConfigBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:315)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.postProcessBeanDefinitionRegistry(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:232)
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanDefinitionRegistryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:275)
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:95)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:705)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:531)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:701)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:577)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initServletBean(FrameworkServlet.java:529)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.HttpServletBean.init(HttpServletBean.java:169)
    at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:158)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.initServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1134)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.load(StandardWrapper.java:986)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.loadOnStartup(StandardContext.java:4902)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5211)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1384)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1374)
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.InlineExecutorService.execute(InlineExecutorService.java:75)
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.AbstractExecutorService.submit(AbstractExecutorService.java:140)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:909)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:843)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1384)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1374)
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.InlineExecutorService.execute(InlineExecutorService.java:75)
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.AbstractExecutorService.submit(AbstractExecutorService.java:140)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:909)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:262)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:434)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:930)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:772)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:567)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:342)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:473)
Caused by: org.springframework.core.NestedIOException: ASM ClassReader failed to parse class file - probably due to a new Java class file version that isn't supported yet: file [C:\Users\Jaden\eclipse-workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\ContactManager\WEB-INF\classes\net\codejava\contact\config\SpringMvcConfig.class]; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unsupported class file major version 57
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReader.<init>(SimpleMetadataReader.java:57)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.java:103)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.CachingMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(CachingMetadataReaderFactory.java:123)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.scanCandidateComponents(ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.java:430)
    ... 50 more
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unsupported class file major version 57
    at org.springframework.asm.ClassReader.<init>(ClassReader.java:184)
    at org.springframework.asm.ClassReader.<init>(ClassReader.java:166)
    at org.springframework.asm.ClassReader.<init>(ClassReader.java:152)
    at org.springframework.asm.ClassReader.<init>(ClassReader.java:273)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReader.<init>(SimpleMetadataReader.java:54)
    ... 53 more

I can't understand what is wrong with this bug, but I really need to fix it and continue the next step.

Answer 1

"ASM ClassReader failed to parse class file - probably due to a new Java class file version that isn't supported yet": your problem falls into the category of this question, but I believe it slightly differs from it.

Spring comes with a repackaged version of ASM, that in the 5.1.x series supports only Java up to 12. Switch to the 5.2.x series for Java 13 support.

Since your project is new (no compatibility issues) I would use the newest Spring version released (5.3.4 at the time of writing).

Edit: A small summary of the Java versions supported by Spring's repackaged ASM:

• Spring 5.0.x: version check commented out (cf. source code),
• Spring 5.1.x: up to Java 12,
• Spring 5.2.x: up to Java 15,
• Spring 5.3.x: up to Java 21.