In my project I found this exception org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.classfmt.ClassFormatException. How to resolve it?

Question

org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.classfmt.ClassFormatException
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.classfmt.ClassFileReader.<init>(ClassFileReader.java:372)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.JDTCompiler$1.findType(JDTCompiler.java:232)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.JDTCompiler$1.findType(JDTCompiler.java:188)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.LookupEnvironment.askForType(LookupEnvironment.java:113)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.UnresolvedReferenceBinding.resolve(UnresolvedReferenceBinding.java:49)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.BinaryTypeBinding.resolveType(BinaryTypeBinding.java:122)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.LookupEnvironment.getTypeFromTypeSignature(LookupEnvironment.java:1335)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.LookupEnvironment.getTypeFromVariantTypeSignature(LookupEnvironment.java:1391)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.LookupEnvironment.getTypeArgumentsFromSignature(LookupEnvironment.java:1172)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.LookupEnvironment.getTypeFromTypeSignature(LookupEnvironment.java:1340)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.BinaryTypeBinding.createMethod(BinaryTypeBinding.java:550)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.BinaryTypeBinding.createMethods(BinaryTypeBinding.java:630)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.BinaryTypeBinding.cachePartsFrom(BinaryTypeBinding.java:365)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.LookupEnvironment.createBinaryTypeFrom(LookupEnvironment.java:688)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.LookupEnvironment.createBinaryTypeFrom(LookupEnvironment.java:667)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.Compiler.accept(Compiler.java:296)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.LookupEnvironment.askForType(LookupEnvironment.java:118)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.UnresolvedReferenceBinding.resolve(UnresolvedReferenceBinding.java:49)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.BinaryTypeBinding.resolveType(BinaryTypeBinding.java:122)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.PackageBinding.getTypeOrPackage(PackageBinding.java:168)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.Scope.getPackage(Scope.java:2379)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.ast.ParameterizedQualifiedTypeReference.internalResolveLeafType(ParameterizedQualifiedTypeReference.java:138)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.ast.ParameterizedQualifiedTypeReference.internalResolveType(ParameterizedQualifiedTypeReference.java:132)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.ast.ParameterizedQualifiedTypeReference.resolveType(ParameterizedQualifiedTypeReference.java:351)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.SourceTypeBinding.resolveTypeFor(SourceTypeBinding.java:1374)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.SourceTypeBinding.fields(SourceTypeBinding.java:699)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.SourceTypeBinding.faultInTypesForFieldsAndMethods(SourceTypeBinding.java:677)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.lookup.CompilationUnitScope.faultInTypes(CompilationUnitScope.java:469)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.Compiler.process(Compiler.java:756)
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:468)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.JDTCompiler.generateClass(JDTCompiler.java:459)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:378)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:353)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:340)
    at org.apache.jasper.JspCompilationContext.compile(JspCompilationContext.java:646)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:357)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:390)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:334)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:728)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:305)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:210)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:222)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:123)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:472)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:171)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:99)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:931)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:407)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1004)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:589)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:310)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

I am using Apache Tomcat/7.0.33, eclipse-jee-kepler-SR1-RC3-win32

Answer 1

Thanks much for the tips! Ran into same ClassFormatException error on Tomcat 6.0.20 and JDK1.8. Replaced the jasper-jdt.jar with ecj-4.2.2.jar and all the JSPs compiling/working again.

Answer 2

The problem is related to ecj version (ecj-3.7.2.jar), you have to use a more recent version of tomcat compatible with jdk8 (apache-tomcat-7.0.68 works fine for me )

Answer 3

I hope the following steps will solve your problem.

1) Stop the tomcat.

2) Download ecj-4.2.2.jar in this link

3) Copy ecj-4.2.2.jar under tomcat's lib folder (example - C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.36\lib).

4) Rename ecj-3.7.2.jar to old_ecj-3.7.2.jar.

5) Start the tomcat.

Answer 4

If you use maven and jdk8 to start tomcat7, make sure that the version of the tomcat7-maven-plugin is at least 2.2

Answer 5

Remove existing localhost servers and add new server. This will solve your problem.