ClassNotFoundException for javax.xml.bind.JAXBException with Spring Boot when switch to Java 9

Question

Initialized the project using start.spring.io

Added WEB,JPA,H2 dependencies then tried to run the MainApplication.java using Jdk 9 and got the following error log

  .   ____          _            __ _ _  /\\ / ___'_ __ _ _(_)_ __  __ _ \ \ \ \ ( ( )\___ | '_ | '_| | '_ \/ _` | \ \ \ \  \\/  ___)| |_)| | | | | || (_| |  ) ) ) )   '  |____| .__|_| |_|_| |_\__, | / / / /  =========|_|==============|___/=/_/_/_/  :: Spring Boot ::       (v1.5.10.RELEASE)  2018-02-26 16:23:33.973  INFO 3860 --- [           main] com.example.demo.DemoApplication         : Starting DemoApplication v0.0.1-SNAPSHOT on RAJAT-PC with PID 3860 (C:\Users\devra\Downloads\Compressed\demo\target\demo-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar started by rajat in C:\Users\devra\Downloads\Compressed\demo\target) 2018-02-26 16:23:33.973  INFO 3860 --- [           main] com.example.demo.DemoApplication         : No active profile set, falling back to default profiles: default 2018-02-26 16:23:34.254  INFO 3860 --- [           main] ationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext : Refreshing org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.AnnotationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext@1aa7ecca: startup date [Mon Feb 26 16:23:34 IST 2018]; root of context hierarchy WARNING: An illegal reflective access operation has occurred WARNING: Illegal reflective access by org.springframework.cglib.core.ReflectUtils$1 (jar:file:/C:/Users/devra/Downloads/Compressed/demo/target/demo-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar!/BOOT-INF/lib/spring-core-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/) to method java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(java.lang.String,byte[],int,int,java.security.ProtectionDomain) WARNING: Please consider reporting this to the maintainers of org.springframework.cglib.core.ReflectUtils$1 WARNING: Use --illegal-access=warn to enable warnings of further illegal reflective access operations WARNING: All illegal access operations will be denied in a future release 2018-02-26 16:23:38.429  INFO 3860 --- [           main] trationDelegate$BeanPostProcessorChecker : Bean 'org.springframework.transaction.annotation.ProxyTransactionManagementConfiguration' of type [org.springframework.transaction.annotation.ProxyTransactionManagementConfiguration$$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$1c55a85e] is not eligible for getting processed by all BeanPostProcessors (for example: not eligible for auto-proxying) 2018-02-26 16:23:39.856  INFO 3860 --- [           main] s.b.c.e.t.TomcatEmbeddedServletContainer : Tomcat initialized with port(s): 8080 (http) 2018-02-26 16:23:39.888  INFO 3860 --- [           main] o.apache.catalina.core.StandardService   : Starting service [Tomcat] 2018-02-26 16:23:39.903  INFO 3860 --- [           main] org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine  : Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/8.5.27 2018-02-26 16:23:40.247  INFO 3860 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.a.c.c.C.[Tomcat].[localhost].[/]       : Initializing Spring embedded WebApplicationContext 2018-02-26 16:23:40.247  INFO 3860 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.web.context.ContextLoader            : Root WebApplicationContext: initialization completed in 6024 ms 2018-02-26 16:23:40.622  INFO 3860 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.w.servlet.FilterRegistrationBean   : Mapping filter: 'characterEncodingFilter' to: [/*] 2018-02-26 16:23:40.622  INFO 3860 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.w.servlet.FilterRegistrationBean   : Mapping filter: 'hiddenHttpMethodFilter' to: [/*] 2018-02-26 16:23:40.622  INFO 3860 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.w.servlet.FilterRegistrationBean   : Mapping filter: 'httpPutFormContentFilter' to: [/*] 2018-02-26 16:23:40.622  INFO 3860 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.w.servlet.FilterRegistrationBean   : Mapping filter: 'requestContextFilter' to: [/*] 2018-02-26 16:23:40.622  INFO 3860 --- [ost-startStop-1] .s.DelegatingFilterProxyRegistrationBean : Mapping filter: 'springSecurityFilterChain' to: [/*] 2018-02-26 16:23:40.622  INFO 3860 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.w.servlet.ServletRegistrationBean  : Mapping servlet: 'dispatcherServlet' to [/] 2018-02-26 16:23:40.622  INFO 3860 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.w.servlet.ServletRegistrationBean  : Mapping servlet: 'webServlet' to [/h2-console/*] 2018-02-26 16:23:42.200  INFO 3860 --- [           main] j.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean : Building JPA container EntityManagerFactory for persistence unit 'default' 2018-02-26 16:23:42.263  INFO 3860 --- [           main] o.hibernate.jpa.internal.util.LogHelper  : HHH000204: Processing PersistenceUnitInfo [         name: default         ...] 2018-02-26 16:23:42.591  INFO 3860 --- [           main] org.hibernate.Version                    : HHH000412: Hibernate Core {5.0.12.Final} 2018-02-26 16:23:42.607  INFO 3860 --- [           main] org.hibernate.cfg.Environment            : HHH000206: hibernate.properties not found 2018-02-26 16:23:42.607  INFO 3860 --- [           main] org.hibernate.cfg.Environment            : HHH000021: Bytecode provider name : javassist 2018-02-26 16:23:42.653  WARN 3860 --- [           main] ationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext : Exception encountered during context initialization - cancelling refresh attempt: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'entityManagerFactory' defined in class path resource [org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/orm/jpa/HibernateJpaAutoConfiguration.class]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/xml/bind/JAXBException 2018-02-26 16:23:42.669  INFO 3860 --- [           main] o.apache.catalina.core.StandardService   : Stopping service [Tomcat] 2018-02-26 16:23:42.716  INFO 3860 --- [           main] utoConfigurationReportLoggingInitializer :  Error starting ApplicationContext. To display the auto-configuration report re-run your application with 'debug' enabled. 2018-02-26 16:23:42.747 ERROR 3860 --- [           main] o.s.boot.SpringApplication               : Application startup failed  org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'entityManagerFactory' defined in class path resource [org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/orm/jpa/HibernateJpaAutoConfiguration.class]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/xml/bind/JAXBException         at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1628) ~[spring-beans-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:555) ~[spring-beans-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:483) ~[spring-beans-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:306) ~[spring-beans-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:230) ~[spring-beans-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:302) ~[spring-beans-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:197) ~[spring-beans-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.getBean(AbstractApplicationContext.java:1080) ~[spring-context-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:857) ~[spring-context-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:543) ~[spring-context-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.refresh(EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java:122) ~[spring-boot-1.5.10.RELEASE.jar!/:1.5.10.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:693) [spring-boot-1.5.10.RELEASE.jar!/:1.5.10.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:360) [spring-boot-1.5.10.RELEASE.jar!/:1.5.10.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:303) [spring-boot-1.5.10.RELEASE.jar!/:1.5.10.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1118) [spring-boot-1.5.10.RELEASE.jar!/:1.5.10.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1107) [spring-boot-1.5.10.RELEASE.jar!/:1.5.10.RELEASE]         at com.example.demo.DemoApplication.main(DemoApplication.java:10) [classes!/:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT]         at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) ~[na:na]         at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) ~[na:na]         at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:na]         at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:564) ~[na:na]         at org.springframework.boot.loader.MainMethodRunner.run(MainMethodRunner.java:48) [demo-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT]         at org.springframework.boot.loader.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:87) [demo-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT]         at org.springframework.boot.loader.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:50) [demo-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT]         at org.springframework.boot.loader.JarLauncher.main(JarLauncher.java:51) [demo-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT] Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/xml/bind/JAXBException         at org.hibernate.boot.spi.XmlMappingBinderAccess.<init>(XmlMappingBinderAccess.java:43) ~[hibernate-core-5.0.12.Final.jar!/:5.0.12.Final]         at org.hibernate.boot.MetadataSources.<init>(MetadataSources.java:87) ~[hibernate-core-5.0.12.Final.jar!/:5.0.12.Final]         at org.hibernate.jpa.boot.internal.EntityManagerFactoryBuilderImpl.<init>(EntityManagerFactoryBuilderImpl.java:179) ~[hibernate-entitymanager-5.0.12.Final.jar!/:5.0.12.Final]         at org.hibernate.jpa.boot.internal.EntityManagerFactoryBuilderImpl.<init>(EntityManagerFactoryBuilderImpl.java:149) ~[hibernate-entitymanager-5.0.12.Final.jar!/:5.0.12.Final]         at org.springframework.orm.jpa.vendor.SpringHibernateJpaPersistenceProvider.createContainerEntityManagerFactory(SpringHibernateJpaPersistenceProvider.java:54) ~[spring-orm-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean.createNativeEntityManagerFactory(LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean.java:360) ~[spring-orm-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.orm.jpa.AbstractEntityManagerFactoryBean.buildNativeEntityManagerFactory(AbstractEntityManagerFactoryBean.java:382) ~[spring-orm-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.orm.jpa.AbstractEntityManagerFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(AbstractEntityManagerFactoryBean.java:371) ~[spring-orm-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean.java:336) ~[spring-orm-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1687) ~[spring-beans-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1624) ~[spring-beans-4.3.14.RELEASE.jar!/:4.3.14.RELEASE]         ... 24 common frames omitted Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.xml.bind.JAXBException         at java.base/java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:466) ~[na:na]         at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:563) ~[na:na]         at org.springframework.boot.loader.LaunchedURLClassLoader.loadClass(LaunchedURLClassLoader.java:94) ~[demo-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT]         at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:496) ~[na:na]         ... 35 common frames omitted 

Then I switched to jdk 8 and it working fine.

The same happening with Spring-boot 2.0.0 RC2

Why this happening when spring doc mentioned the required Java version for it to be 8 or 9.

Answer 1

You need to add the JAXB dependency (as not provided any longer by default in Java 9) and you have to use Spring Boot 2 :

<dependency>     <groupId>javax.xml.bind</groupId>      <artifactId>jaxb-api</artifactId>     <version>2.3.0</version>  </dependency> 

Note that if you use Java 10, you would have exactly the same issue as the JAXB dependency removal was not done just for the Java 9 version.

---

The Spring Boot wiki about Java 9 and above lists things that you need to know to run Spring Boot apps on Java 9 and above.

Spring Boot version requirements

• Spring Boot 1 doesn't support it (and no planned to).
• Spring Boot 2 supports it.

Spring Boot 2 is the first version to support Java 9 (Java 8 is also supported). If you are using 1.5 and wish to use Java 9 you should upgrade to 2.0 as we have no plans to support Java 9 on Spring Boot 1.5.x.

Java 10 is supported as of Spring Boot 2.0.1.RELEASE while Java 11 is supported as of Spring Boot 2.1.0.M2.

Some known workarounds

AspectJ

With Java 9, if you need to weave classes from the JDK, you need to use AspectJ 1.9. Spring AOP should work fine in most cases with AspectJ 1.8 (the default in Spring Boot 2.0).

JAXB

When upgrading you may face the following:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/xml/bind/JAXBException

Hibernate typically requires JAXB that’s no longer provided by default. You can add the java.xml.bind module to restore this functionality with Java9 or Java10 (even if the module is deprecated).

<dependency>     <groupId>javax.xml.bind</groupId>      <artifactId>jaxb-api</artifactId>     <version>2.3.0</version>  </dependency> 

As of Java11, the module is not available so your only option is to add the JAXB RI (you can do that as of Java9 in place of adding the java.xml.bind module:

<dependency>     <groupId>org.glassfish.jaxb</groupId>     <artifactId>jaxb-runtime</artifactId> </dependency> 

Lombok

If you are using lombok, the managed version of Spring Boot may not work with the latest JDK. Check the Lombok web site and override its version if necessary.

Some known limitations

These libraries do not have full support for Java 9 yet:

• Apache Cassandra, see #10453

---

Please, don't hesitate to edit this post if changes occur about the Java 9 and above compatibility with Spring Boot.