How to fix 'Unsupported class file major version 55' while executing 'org.apache.spark.sql.DataSet.collectAsList()'

Question

I'm creating a Java RESTAPI Spring Boot application that uses spark to get some data from the server. When I try to convert from Dataset to List it fails.

I've tried jdk8 and jdk11 to compile and execute the code but I get the same 'java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unsupported class file major version 55', in the past, I've solved this issue by updating Java version, but it's not working for this.

I'm using:

• JDK 11.0.2

• Spring Boot 2.1.4

• Spark 2.4.2

This is the code I'm executing:

Dataset<Row> dataFrame = sparkSession.read().json("/home/data/*.json");
        dataFrame.createOrReplaceTempView("events");
        Dataset<Row> resultDataFrame = sparkSession.sql("SELECT * FROM events WHERE " + predicate); 
        Dataset<Event> eventDataSet = resultDataFrame.as(Encoders.bean(Event.class));
        return eventDataSet.collectAsList();

The query works, actually while debugging you can see information in both resultDataFrame and eventDataSet.

I expect the output to be a proper list of Events, but I'm getting the exception:

[http-nio-8080-exec-2] ERROR org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Tomcat].[localhost].[/].[dispatcherServlet] - Servlet.service() for servlet [dispatcherServlet] in context with path [] threw exception [Request processing failed; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unsupported class file major version 55] with root cause
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unsupported class file major version 55
    at org.apache.xbean.asm6.ClassReader.<init>(ClassReader.java:166)
    at org.apache.xbean.asm6.ClassReader.<init>(ClassReader.java:148)
    at org.apache.xbean.asm6.ClassReader.<init>(ClassReader.java:136)
    at org.apache.xbean.asm6.ClassReader.<init>(ClassReader.java:237)
    at org.apache.spark.util.ClosureCleaner$.getClassReader(ClosureCleaner.scala:49)
    at org.apache.spark.util.FieldAccessFinder$$anon$3$$anonfun$visitMethodInsn$2.apply(ClosureCleaner.scala:517)
    at org.apache.spark.util.FieldAccessFinder$$anon$3$$anonfun$visitMethodInsn$2.apply(ClosureCleaner.scala:500)
    at scala.collection.TraversableLike$WithFilter$$anonfun$foreach$1.apply(TraversableLike.scala:733)
    at scala.collection.mutable.HashMap$$anon$1$$anonfun$foreach$2.apply(HashMap.scala:134)
    at scala.collection.mutable.HashMap$$anon$1$$anonfun$foreach$2.apply(HashMap.scala:134)
    at scala.collection.mutable.HashTable$class.foreachEntry(HashTable.scala:236)
    at scala.collection.mutable.HashMap.foreachEntry(HashMap.scala:40)
    at scala.collection.mutable.HashMap$$anon$1.foreach(HashMap.scala:134)
    at scala.collection.TraversableLike$WithFilter.foreach(TraversableLike.scala:732)
    at org.apache.spark.util.FieldAccessFinder$$anon$3.visitMethodInsn(ClosureCleaner.scala:500)
.....

UPDATE BY COMMENTS: For Java 8, I change pom to aim java 8:

<java.version>1.8</java.version>

And then update project, maven clean, maven install and then run. Getting same version 55 error

Answer 1

Excluding the default XBean artifact from spark-core dependency and adding latest version of XBean artifact, it worked for me.

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.xbean</groupId>
        <artifactId>xbean-asm6-shaded</artifactId>
        <version>4.10</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.spark</groupId>
        <artifactId>spark-core_2.11</artifactId>
        <version>2.4.1</version>
        <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <groupId>org.apache.xbean</groupId>
                <artifactId>xbean-asm6-shaded</artifactId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Answer 2

The root cause of the issue was a symbolic link that I have aiming the wrong JDK and that's why it wasn't working. JAVA_HOME was aiming a jdk11 and eclipse was running with that.