ClassNotFoundException: org.springframework.core.OrderComparator$OrderSourceProvider

Question

I have created a web spring application which is running fine. However, when I restart application, I am getting the following error (But still the application is working fine):

SEVERE: Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/springframework/core/OrderComparator$OrderSourceProvider
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.createBeanFactory(AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.java:200)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.refreshBeanFactory(AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.java:126)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.obtainFreshBeanFactory(AbstractApplicationContext.java:540)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:454)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:403)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:306)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:106)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4812)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5255)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:147)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1408)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1398)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.springframework.core.OrderComparator$OrderSourceProvider
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoaderBase.loadClass(WebappClassLoaderBase.java:1308)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoaderBase.loadClass(WebappClassLoaderBase.java:1142)
    ... 16 more

Apr 08, 2016 3:16:02 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext startInternal
SEVERE: One or more listeners failed to start. Full details will be found in the appropriate container log file
Apr 08, 2016 3:16:02 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext startInternal
SEVERE: Context [/spring-jpa-repository] startup failed due to previous errors
Apr 08, 2016 3:16:02 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: Closing Spring root WebApplicationContext
Apr 08, 2016 3:16:02 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext listenerStop
SEVERE: Exception sending context destroyed event to listener instance of class org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener
java.lang.IllegalStateException: BeanFactory not initialized or already closed - call 'refresh' before accessing beans via the ApplicationContext
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.getBeanFactory(AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.java:170)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.destroyBeans(AbstractApplicationContext.java:921)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.doClose(AbstractApplicationContext.java:895)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.close(AbstractApplicationContext.java:841)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.closeWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:579)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextDestroyed(ContextLoaderListener.java:115)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStop(StandardContext.java:4859)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.stopInternal(StandardContext.java:5478)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.stop(LifecycleBase.java:224)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:159)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1408)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1398)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Apr 08, 2016 3:16:03 PM org.apache.jasper.servlet.TldScanner scanJars
INFO: At least one JAR was scanned for TLDs yet contained no TLDs. Enable debug logging for this logger for a complete list of JARs that were scanned but no TLDs were found in them. Skipping unneeded JARs during scanning can improve startup time and JSP compilation time.
Apr 08, 2016 3:16:03 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: No Spring WebApplicationInitializer types detected on classpath
SLF4J: Failed to load class "org.slf4j.impl.StaticLoggerBinder".
SLF4J: Defaulting to no-operation (NOP) logger implementation
SLF4J: See http://www.slf4j.org/codes.html#StaticLoggerBinder for further details.
Apr 08, 2016 3:16:03 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: Initializing Spring root WebApplicationContext
Apr 08, 2016 3:16:05 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: Initializing Spring FrameworkServlet 'dispatcher'
Apr 08, 2016 3:16:06 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start
INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler ["http-nio-8080"]
Apr 08, 2016 3:16:06 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start
INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler ["ajp-nio-8009"]
Apr 08, 2016 3:16:06 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 5441 ms

I using the 4.1.x version of spring using maven and all the jars are presented it the classpath. I have also checked the spring core jar and the required class is present in in it.

Could anyone please assist me to solve this issue.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

This file belongs to org.springframework.spring-core. This file is included as a dependency by many other jars, so it might have been overridden by an older version. So explicitly include the dependency to spring-core with the Spring version you are using.