AbstractMethodError on deploying Spring 4.0 in Tomcat 6

Question

I am getting below exception on deploying Spring 4.0.1 app in Tomcat 6.0.37:

SEVERE: Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.OptionalValidatorFactoryBean#0': Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.lang.AbstractMethodError: org.hibernate.validator.internal.engine.ConfigurationImpl.getDefaultParameterNameProvider()Ljavax/validation/ParameterNameProvider;
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1553)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:539)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:475)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:304)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:228)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:300)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:195)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:700)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:760)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:482)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:403)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:306)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:106)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4206)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4705)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:799)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:779)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:601)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:943)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWARs(HostConfig.java:778)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:504)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1317)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:324)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:142)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1065)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:840)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1057)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:463)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:525)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:754)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:595)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:289)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:414)
Caused by: java.lang.AbstractMethodError: org.hibernate.validator.internal.engine.ConfigurationImpl.getDefaultParameterNameProvider()Ljavax/validation/ParameterNameProvider;
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.springframework.util.ReflectionUtils.invokeMethod(ReflectionUtils.java:191)
    at org.springframework.util.ReflectionUtils.invokeMethod(ReflectionUtils.java:176)
    at org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.LocalValidatorFactoryBean.configureParameterNameProviderIfPossible(LocalValidatorFactoryBean.java:276)
    at org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.LocalValidatorFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(LocalValidatorFactoryBean.java:245)
    at org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.OptionalValidatorFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(OptionalValidatorFactoryBean.java:40)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1612)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1549)
    ... 36 more

Following related dependencies are added in build.gradle:

dependencies {

providedCompile "javax.servlet:servlet-api:2.5"
providedCompile "javax.servlet.jsp:jsp-api:2.2"
providedCompile "javax.el:el-api:2.2"
compile "javax.servlet.jsp.jstl:jstl-api:1.2"
compile "org.glassfish.web:jstl-impl:1.2"

compile "org.slf4j:jcl-over-slf4j:1.7.6"
compile "org.slf4j:slf4j-api:1.7.6"

compile ("org.hibernate:hibernate-validator:4.3.1.Final") {
exclude group: "javax.xml.bind", module: "jaxb-api"
exclude group: "com.sun.xml.bind", module: "jaxb-impl"
}

compile "javax.validation:validation-api:1.1.0.Final"

// Spring 4.0.1 and other dependencies below
....
}

Is the error because of spring-beans and spring-webmvc depends on EL 2.2.4 version whereas Tomcat 6 comes with EL 2.1. If so, how to resolve it? Also, I do not have rights to update libs in Tomcat dir.

Answer 1

The error has nothing to do with the EL. It has all to do with the javax.validation api and hibernate.

java.lang.AbstractMethodError: org.hibernate.validator.internal.engine.ConfigurationImpl.getDefaultParameterNameProvider()Ljavax/validation/ParameterNameProvider

Hibernate validator 4.3.x is an implementation of javax.validation 1.0 (JSR-303). However you are including the 1.1 API version. Either downgrade the included javax.validation version or upgrade your hibernate validator to 5.0.x.

Answer 2

Check to see if there are multiple references to validator in your pom file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
    <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
    <version>${hibernate-val.version}</version>
</dependency>