JAX-WS = When Apache CXF is installed it "steals" default JDK JAX-WS implementation, how to solve?

Question

I have a strange problem.

1. Using wsimport I generated als JAX-WS Code from a WSDL (in a dedicated eclipse java project). This works fine in JDK6 without any external dependencies (running in Eclipse)

2. I have second project where I once used Apache CXF. If I copy the Code described in 1.) into this project, suddenly not the JDK executes the JAX-WS stuff (files I generated), but rather Apache CXF.

How can I prevent Apache CXF "running" the JAX-WS stuff. (Problem is, CXF Fails to run the code...). I also completely do not understand how Apache CXF discovers these classes. I did not register them anywere?

Thank you very much! Markus

Answer 1

Apache CXF (cxf-rt-frontend-jaxws-*.jar to be precise) registers itself as a JAX-WS provider in the JVM. Inside the aforementioned JAR there is a file named: /META-INF/services/javax.xml.ws.spi.Provider with the following contents:

org.apache.cxf.jaxws.spi.ProviderImpl 

If you now look at javax.xml.ws.spi.FactoryFinder#find method you will discover that JDK searches the CLASSPATH for the presence of javax.xml.ws.spi.Provider file and falls back to default Sun implementation if not available. So you have two options to force fallback:

• either remove cxf-rt-frontend-jaxws-*.jar from CLASSPATH

• or override javax.xml.ws.spi.Provider file provided by CXF to point to fallback location

The second option is actually a bit easier. Simply create:

/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/javax.xml.ws.spi.Provider 

file (assuming you are using Maven) with the following contents:

org.apache.cxf.jaxws.spi.ProviderImpl 

That's it, tested with javax.xml.ws.Endpoint#publish.