Spring context initialization failed with java.lang.IllegalArgumentException while deploying to Apache 7.0.54 and java 8

Question

Environment: Applciation server: Apache 7.0.54 Java: "1.8.0_05" OS: Mac OS X 10.9.3

Libraries: Spring 3.2 REST application

Following is the error I received during deployment:

localhost.2014.06.09.log

Jun 09, 2014 3:37:47 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: No Spring WebApplicationInitializer types detected on classpath
Jun 09, 2014 3:37:47 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: Initializing Spring root WebApplicationContext
Jun 09, 2014 3:37:47 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext listenerStart
SEVERE: Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
    at org.springframework.asm.ClassReader.<init>(Unknown Source)
    at org.springframework.asm.ClassReader.<init>(Unknown Source)
    at org.springframework.asm.ClassReader.<init>(Unknown Source)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReader.<init>(SimpleMetadataReader.java:52)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.java:80)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.CachingMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(CachingMetadataReaderFactory.java:101)
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.java:76)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.getImports(ConfigurationClassParser.java:298)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.getImports(ConfigurationClassParser.java:300)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.getImports(ConfigurationClassParser.java:300)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.doProcessConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassParser.java:230)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.processConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassParser.java:153)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.parse(ConfigurationClassParser.java:130)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.processConfigBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:285)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.postProcessBeanDefinitionRegistry(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:223)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:630)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:461)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:383)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:283)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:112)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4973)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5467)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:901)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:877)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:632)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:1083)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployWar.run(HostConfig.java:1880)
    at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
    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)

Answer 1

You need to upgrade to spring 4 release to support java 1.8 byte code format

Answer 2

If you can't go Spring 4 just upgrade to 3.2.16 will solved the problem.

Thanks to Tom Saleeba