Sonar failed with an API incompatibility for Absent Code attribute

Question

One of my fellow developers created a new application the other day and now I can't get a good Sonar compile. I've tried a number of documented workarounds/solutions to this sort of Absent Code error, but haven't found the right combination. The project includes the glassfish and glassfish-embedded-all jars that are supposed to provide an implementation for the javax-servlet. They are set to scope test.

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.glassfish.main.extras</groupId>
    <artifactId>glassfish-embedded-all</artifactId>
    <version>4.1</version>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.glassfish</groupId>
    <artifactId>javax.servlet</artifactId>
    <version>3.0</version>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>javax</groupId>
    <artifactId>javaee-api</artifactId>
    <scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>

I tried this one too with no luck:

<plugin>
    <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
    <configuration>
        <classpathDependencyExcludes>
            <!-- exclude code absent api -->                                    
            <classpathDependencyExclude>javax:javaee-api</classpathDependencyExclude>                                
            <classpathDependencyExclude>javax:javaee-web-api</classpathDependencyExclude>
        </classpathDependencyExcludes>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

This is the error with Maven 3.0.4:

[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.sonarsource.scanner.maven:sonar-maven-plugin:3.0.2:sonar (default-cli) on project Filters: Execution default-cli of goal org.sonarsource.scanner.maven:sonar-maven-plugin:3.0.2:sonar failed: An API incompatibility was encountered while executing org.sonarsource.scanner.maven:sonar-maven-plugin:3.0.2:sonar: java.lang.ClassFormatError: Absent Code attribute in method that is not native or abstract in class file javax/servlet/http/HttpServletRequestWrapper
[ERROR] -----------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] realm =    plugin>org.sonarsource.scanner.maven:sonar-maven-plugin:3.0.2
[ERROR] strategy = org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.strategy.SelfFirstStrategy
[ERROR] urls[0] = file:/root/.m2/repository/org/sonarsource/scanner/maven/sonar-maven-plugin/3.0.2/sonar-maven-plugin-3.0.2.jar
[ERROR] urls[1] = file:/root/.m2/repository/org/apache/maven/shared/maven-dependency-tree/2.2/maven-dependency-tree-2.2.jar
[ERROR] urls[2] = file:/root/.m2/repository/org/codehaus/plexus/plexus-component-annotations/1.5.5/plexus-component-annotations-1.5.5.jar
[ERROR] urls[3] = file:/root/.m2/repository/org/eclipse/aether/aether-util/0.9.0.M2/aether-util-0.9.0.M2.jar
[ERROR] urls[4] = file:/root/.m2/repository/org/sonatype/plexus/plexus-sec-dispatcher/1.4/plexus-sec-dispatcher-1.4.jar
[ERROR] urls[5] = file:/root/.m2/repository/org/sonatype/plexus/plexus-cipher/1.4/plexus-cipher-1.4.jar
[ERROR] urls[6] = file:/root/.m2/repository/org/codehaus/plexus/plexus-utils/3.0.22/plexus-utils-3.0.22.jar
[ERROR] urls[7] = file:/root/.m2/repository/org/sonarsource/scanner/api/sonar-scanner-api/2.6/sonar-scanner-api-2.6.jar
[ERROR] urls[8] = file:/root/.m2/repository/commons-lang/commons-lang/2.6/commons-lang-2.6.jar
[ERROR] urls[9] = file:/root/.m2/repository/com/google/guava/guava/18.0/guava-18.0.jar
[ERROR] urls[10] = file:/root/.m2/repository/com/google/code/findbugs/jsr305/2.0.3/jsr305-2.0.3.jar
[ERROR] Number of foreign imports: 1
[ERROR] import: Entry[import  from realm ClassRealm[project>com.avaya.zephyr.services.sample_services.Authorization:Filters:3.4.0.0.0-SNAPSHOT, parent: ClassRealm[maven.api, parent: null]]]

The project's pom looks mostly like another similar project that isn't having the error. It does, however, have a warning:

Apr 20, 2017 4:52:16 PM net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.java.typeresolution.ClassTypeResolver visit
WARNING: Could not find class myBetterClass, due to: java.lang.ClassFormatError: Absent Code attribute in method that is not native or abstract in class file javax/ws/rs/core/Application

I thought that providing the glassfish embedded jar was supposed to solve that sort of issue. (Maybe there is a newer version of glassfish needed?)

Answer 1

You can try to resolve this by trying out the following:

1. Update Maven to 3.5.0 to maintain the Maven to its latest version.

2. You can follow the matrix here to see if the version used by you is compatible or not. From the logs, your build is using an older version of the plugin

   .scanner.maven:sonar-maven-plugin:3.0.2

   Try executing

   mvn org.sonarsource.scanner.maven:sonar-maven-plugin:3.3.0.603:sonar
   

3. Make sure your exclusions are marked within the <properties> of the pom.xml as

   <properties>
       <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
       <sonar.host.url>http://www.example.com/</sonar.host.url>
       <sonar.exclusions>some/path/to/javax/javaee-api/**, some/path/to/javax:javaee-web-api</sonar.exclusions>
   </properties>