Spring - java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.springframework.web.accept.ContentNegotiationManager.getStrategies()Ljava/util/List;?

Question

After updating my pom.xml to use Springframework version 4.2.3 (from 4.1.2), the application fails to start-up with

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter': Invocation of init method failed; nested except
ion is java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.springframework.web.accept.ContentNegotiationManager.getStrategies()Ljava/util/List;
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1578)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:545)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:482)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:306)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:230)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:302)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:197)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:772)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:838)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:537)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:667)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:633)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:681)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:552)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initServletBean(FrameworkServlet.java:493)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.HttpServletBean.init(HttpServletBean.java:136)
    at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:160)

I've tried Maven Clean, rebuild, etc, but the error persists.

I suspect an old JAR is being held somewhere, but where?!

Answer 1

Most likely you have in your lib an old version of spring-web-4.X.X.RELEASE.jar file. Just check that