Class Conflict when starting up Java project: ClassMetadataReadingVisitor has interface org.springframework.asm.ClassVisitor as super class

Question

I am developing a Java web project using the latest Spring framework version (3.2.2-RELEASE), but now I have a problem when the project is started up. The detail error is

java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError:
class org.springframework.core.type.classreading.ClassMetadataReadingVisitor has interface org.springframework.asm.ClassVisitor as super class.

I have researched this problem on Internet and this site also, and got some clues. I have removed the asm and spring-asm libraries out of my project, but it did not work. I see that there are another ClassVisitor interface which is defined in rt.jar of default JRE. Is this the reason cause this conflict?

But I do recognized that:

class ClassMetadataReadingVisitor extends ClassVisitor implements ClassMetadata {

    private String className;
        ....
}

ClassMetadataReadingVisitor refers to class org.springframework.asm.ClassVisitor (already available in spring-core package), so how can it conflict with the interface com.sun.xml.internal.ws.org.objectweb.asm.ClassVisitor of JRE? I don't know how can this happen?

Here is full stack-strace:

[ERROR 13:49:39] (ContextLoader:319) - Context initialization failed
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Failed to read candidate component class: file [D:\workspace\.projects\myproject\trunk\target\myproject\WEB-INF\classes\com\myproject\action\AuthenticationAction.class]; nested exception is java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError: class org.springframework.core.type.classreading.ClassMetadataReadingVisitor has interface org.springframework.asm.ClassVisitor as super class
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.findCandidateComponents(ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.java:281)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathBeanDefinitionScanner.doScan(ClassPathBeanDefinitionScanner.java:242)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScanBeanDefinitionParser.parse(ComponentScanBeanDefinitionParser.java:84)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.NamespaceHandlerSupport.parse(NamespaceHandlerSupport.java:73)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.parseCustomElement(BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.java:1438)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.parseCustomElement(BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.java:1428)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.parseBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:185)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.doRegisterBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:139)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.registerBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:108)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.registerBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:493)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:390)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:334)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:302)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:174)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:209)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:180)
    at org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlWebApplicationContext.java:125)
    at org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlWebApplicationContext.java:94)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.refreshBeanFactory(AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.java:130)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.obtainFreshBeanFactory(AbstractApplicationContext.java:537)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:451)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:389)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:294)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:112)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4205)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4704)
    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.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:675)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptors(HostConfig.java:601)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:502)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1315)
    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:1061)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:840)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1053)
    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(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:289)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:414)
Caused by: java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError: class org.springframework.core.type.classreading.ClassMetadataReadingVisitor has interface org.springframework.asm.ClassVisitor as super class
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClassInternal(WebappClassLoader.java:2818)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1159)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1647)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1526)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClassInternal(WebappClassLoader.java:2818)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1159)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1647)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1526)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReader.<init>(SimpleMetadataReader.java:63)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.java:80)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.CachingMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(CachingMetadataReaderFactory.java:102)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.findCandidateComponents(ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.java:257)
    ... 47 more
[ERROR 13:49:39] (ContextLoader:319) - Context initialization failed
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Failed to read candidate component class: file [D:\workspace\.projects\myproject\trunk\target\myproject\WEB-INF\classes\com\myproject\action\AuthenticationAction.class]; nested exception is java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError: class org.springframework.core.type.classreading.ClassMetadataReadingVisitor has interface org.springframework.asm.ClassVisitor as super class
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.findCandidateComponents(ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.java:281)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathBeanDefinitionScanner.doScan(ClassPathBeanDefinitionScanner.java:242)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScanBeanDefinitionParser.parse(ComponentScanBeanDefinitionParser.java:84)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.NamespaceHandlerSupport.parse(NamespaceHandlerSupport.java:73)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.parseCustomElement(BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.java:1438)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.parseCustomElement(BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.java:1428)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.parseBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:185)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.doRegisterBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:139)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.registerBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:108)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.registerBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:493)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:390)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:334)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:302)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:174)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:209)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:180)
    at org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlWebApplicationContext.java:125)
    at org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlWebApplicationContext.java:94)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.refreshBeanFactory(AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.java:130)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.obtainFreshBeanFactory(AbstractApplicationContext.java:537)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:451)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:389)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:294)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:112)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4205)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4704)
    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.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:675)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptors(HostConfig.java:601)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:502)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1315)
    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:1061)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:840)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1053)
    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(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:289)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:414)
Caused by: java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError: class org.springframework.core.type.classreading.ClassMetadataReadingVisitor has interface org.springframework.asm.ClassVisitor as super class
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClassInternal(WebappClassLoader.java:2818)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1159)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1647)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1526)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClassInternal(WebappClassLoader.java:2818)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1159)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1647)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1526)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReader.<init>(SimpleMetadataReader.java:63)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.java:80)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.CachingMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(CachingMetadataReaderFactory.java:102)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.findCandidateComponents(ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.java:257)
    ... 47 more

And here is list of dependencies:

activation-1.0.2.jar  
antlr-2.7.7.jar  
antlr-runtime-3.3.jar  
arena-0.1.jar  
asm-3.3.1.jar (removed from classpath)  
aspectjweaver.jar  
bcprov-jdk16-145.jar  
c3p0-0.9.1.2.jar  
cglib-2.1_3.jar  
com.springsource.org.apache.xml.serializer-2.7.1.jar  
commons-beanutils-1.8.3.jar  
commons-codec-1.7.jar  
commons-collections-3.2.1.jar  
commons-dbcp-1.4.jar  
commons-digester-2.1.jar  
commons-fileupload-1.2.2.jar  
commons-httpclient-3.1.jar  
commons-io-2.4.jar  
commons-lang-2.6.jar  
commons-logging-1.1.1.jar  
commons-pool-1.6.jar  
commons-vfs-patched-1.9.1.jar  
commons-vfs2-2.0.jar  
csv.jar  
dom4j-1.6.1.jar  
fop-1.0.jar  
gson-2.2.2.jar  
htmlcleaner-2.4.jar  
httpclient-4.2.3.jar  
httpcore-4.2.3.jar  
httpcore-nio-4.2.3.jar  
httpmime-4.2.3.jar  
jaxen-1.1-beta-6.jar  
jcifs-1.3.15.jar  
jdom-1.0.jar  
jersey-client-1.8.jar  
jersey-core-1.8.jar  
jersey-multipart-1.0.3.144640.jar  
jersey-server-1.8.jar  
jersey-spring-1.8.jar  
joda-time-2.2.jar  
joda-time-jsptags-1.1.1.jar  
jodconverter-2.2.2.jar  
json-lib-2.4-jdk15.jar  
json-simple-1.1.1.jar  
json-taglib-0.4.1.jar  
jsoup-1.7.2.jar  
jstl-1.2.jar  
juh-3.2.1.jar  
jurt-3.2.1.jar  
log4j-1.2.17.jar  
mail-1.4.5.jar  
persistence-api-1.0.2.jar  
poi-3.9.jar  
poi-ooxml-3.9.jar  
poi-ooxml-schemas-3.9.jar  
poi-scratchpad-3.9.jar  
postgresql-9.1-901-1.jdbc4.jar  
quartz-2.1.6.jar  
ridl-3.2.1.jar  
scribe-1.3.3.jar  
slf4j-api-1.7.5.jar  
slf4j-jdk14-1.7.5.jar  
spring-aop-3.2.2.RELEASE.jar  
spring-asm-3.1.4.RELEASE.jar (removed from classpath)  
spring-beans-3.2.2.RELEASE.jar  
spring-context-3.2.2.RELEASE.jar  
spring-context-support-3.2.2.RELEASE.jar  
spring-core-3.2.2.RELEASE.jar  
spring-expression-3.2.2.RELEASE.jar  
spring-jdbc-3.2.2.RELEASE.jar  
spring-tx-3.2.2.RELEASE.jar  
spring-web-3.2.2.RELEASE.jar  
spring-webmvc-3.2.2.RELEASE.jar  
standard-1.1.2.jar  
stax-api-1.0.1.jar  
stringtemplate-4.0.2.jar  
unoil-3.2.1.jar  
velocity-1.7.jar  
velocity-tools-2.0.jar  
wmf2svg-0.9.3.jar  
xalan-2.7.1.jar  
xercesImpl-2.11.0.jar  
xml-apis-1.4.01.jar  
xmlbeans-2.6.0.jar  
xmlgraphics-commons-1.5.jar  
xstream-1.4.4.jar

Answer 1

I solved my same problem after I generated a mvn dependency:tree and looked for older spring versions in my tree. Indeed, there was a dependency to org.springframework:spring-asm:3.0.7-RELEASE in my dependencies.