unable to open input stream for resource *.class in archive *.war

Question

I am attempting to start up a simple spring-mvc web app.

I have a DispatcherServlet mapped to /api/* and a @RestController with GET methods mapped to /test1.

I have encountered this error (when i hit the url: 'http://myserver/api/test1') that no-one in the google-sphere seems to know about:

[31/07/14 12:48:32:383 EST] 00000088 ecs           W com.ibm.ws.ecs.internal.scan.context.impl.ScannerContextImpl scanClassesDir unable to open input stream for resource ok/ApplicationInitializer.class in archive web.war
                             java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
    at org.objectweb.asm.ClassReader.<init>(Unknown Source)
    at org.objectweb.asm.ClassReader.<init>(Unknown Source)
    at org.objectweb.asm.ClassReader.<init>(Unknown Source)
    at com.ibm.ws.ecs.internal.scan.impl.ClassScanner.scanInputStream(ClassScanner.java:147)
    at com.ibm.ws.ecs.internal.scan.impl.ClassScanner.scanInputStream(ClassScanner.java:124)
    at com.ibm.ws.ecs.internal.scan.impl.ClassScanner.scanInputStream(ClassScanner.java:120)
    at com.ibm.ws.ecs.internal.scan.context.impl.ScannerContextImpl.scanClassesDir(ScannerContextImpl.java:218)
    at com.ibm.ws.ecs.internal.scan.context.impl.WARScannerContext.scanInternal(WARScannerContext.java:75)
    at com.ibm.ws.ecs.internal.scan.context.impl.ScannerContextImpl.scan(ScannerContextImpl.java:87)
    at com.ibm.ws.ecs.internal.scan.context.impl.ScannerContextImpl.getScannedClasses(ScannerContextImpl.java:70)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppImpl.scanForHandlesTypesClasses(WebAppImpl.java:752)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppImpl.initializeServletContainerInitializers(WebAppImpl.java:600)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppImpl.initialize(WebAppImpl.java:409)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebGroupImpl.addWebApplication(WebGroupImpl.java:88)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.VirtualHostImpl.addWebApplication(VirtualHostImpl.java:169)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WSWebContainer.addWebApp(WSWebContainer.java:746)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WSWebContainer.addWebApplication(WSWebContainer.java:634)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.component.WebContainerImpl.install(WebContainerImpl.java:426)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.component.WebContainerImpl.start(WebContainerImpl.java:718)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.start(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:1175)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.DeployedApplicationImpl.fireDeployedObjectStart(DeployedApplicationImpl.java:1370)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.DeployedModuleImpl.start(DeployedModuleImpl.java:639)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.DeployedApplicationImpl.start(DeployedApplicationImpl.java:968)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.startApplication(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:774)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.startApplicationDynamically(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:1374)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.start(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:2179)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.start(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:445)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitImpl.start(CompositionUnitImpl.java:123)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.start(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:388)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.access$500(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:116)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl$1.run(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:663)
    at com.ibm.ws.security.auth.ContextManagerImpl.runAs(ContextManagerImpl.java:5384)
    at com.ibm.ws.security.auth.ContextManagerImpl.runAsSystem(ContextManagerImpl.java:5600)
    at com.ibm.ws.security.core.SecurityContext.runAsSystem(SecurityContext.java:255)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.startCompositionUnit(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:677)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.startCompositionUnit(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:621)
    at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.startApplication(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:1266)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:88)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:55)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:613)
    at sun.reflect.misc.Trampoline.invoke(MethodUtil.java:68)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor21.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:55)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:613)
    at sun.reflect.misc.MethodUtil.invoke(MethodUtil.java:287)
    at javax.management.modelmbean.RequiredModelMBean$4.run(RequiredModelMBean.java:1256)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:252)
    at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:87)
    at javax.management.modelmbean.RequiredModelMBean.invokeMethod(RequiredModelMBean.java:1250)
    at javax.management.modelmbean.RequiredModelMBean.invoke(RequiredModelMBean.java:1088)
    at com.sun.jmx.interceptor.DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.invoke(DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.java:831)
    at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.JmxMBeanServer.invoke(JmxMBeanServer.java:804)
    at com.ibm.ws.management.AdminServiceImpl$1.run(AdminServiceImpl.java:1335)
    at com.ibm.ws.security.util.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:118)
    at com.ibm.ws.management.AdminServiceImpl.invoke(AdminServiceImpl.java:1228)
    at com.ibm.ws.management.commands.AdminServiceCommands$InvokeCmd.execute(AdminServiceCommands.java:251)
    at com.ibm.ws.console.core.mbean.MBeanHelper.invoke(MBeanHelper.java:241)
    at com.ibm.ws.console.appdeployment.ApplicationDeploymentCollectionAction.execute(ApplicationDeploymentCollectionAction.java:578)
    at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.processActionPerform(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.process(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.process(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.doPost(Unknown Source)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:595)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:668)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1227)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:776)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:458)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapperImpl.handleRequest(ServletWrapperImpl.java:178)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.invokeTarget(WebAppFilterChain.java:136)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:79)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.doFilter(WebAppFilterManager.java:928)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.invokeFilters(WebAppFilterManager.java:1025)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.dispatch(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:1385)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.forward(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:194)
    at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.doForward(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor.doForward(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.processForwardConfig(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor.processForwardConfig(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.process(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.process(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.doPost(Unknown Source)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:595)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:668)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1227)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:776)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:458)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapperImpl.handleRequest(ServletWrapperImpl.java:178)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.invokeTarget(WebAppFilterChain.java:136)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:97)
    at com.ibm.ws.console.core.servlet.WSCUrlFilter.setUpCommandAssistance(WSCUrlFilter.java:955)
    at com.ibm.ws.console.core.servlet.WSCUrlFilter.continueStoringTaskState(WSCUrlFilter.java:504)
    at com.ibm.ws.console.core.servlet.WSCUrlFilter.doFilter(WSCUrlFilter.java:325)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.FilterInstanceWrapper.doFilter(FilterInstanceWrapper.java:195)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:91)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.doFilter(WebAppFilterManager.java:928)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.invokeFilters(WebAppFilterManager.java:1025)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.CacheServletWrapper.handleRequest(CacheServletWrapper.java:87)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WebContainer.handleRequest(WebContainer.java:909)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WSWebContainer.handleRequest(WSWebContainer.java:1662)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.channel.WCChannelLink.ready(WCChannelLink.java:200)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleDiscrimination(HttpInboundLink.java:459)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleNewRequest(HttpInboundLink.java:526)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.processRequest(HttpInboundLink.java:312)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpICLReadCallback.complete(HttpICLReadCallback.java:88)
    at com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.AioReadCompletionListener.futureCompleted(AioReadCompletionListener.java:175)
    at com.ibm.io.async.AbstractAsyncFuture.invokeCallback(AbstractAsyncFuture.java:217)
    at com.ibm.io.async.AsyncChannelFuture.fireCompletionActions(AsyncChannelFuture.java:161)
    at com.ibm.io.async.AsyncFuture.completed(AsyncFuture.java:138)
    at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler.complete(ResultHandler.java:204)
    at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler.runEventProcessingLoop(ResultHandler.java:775)
    at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler$2.run(ResultHandler.java:905)
    at com.ibm.ws.util.ThreadPool$Worker.run(ThreadPool.java:1862)

I am able to confirm the deployment of the war by seeing my index.html page when i hit the url 'http://myserver'

Any ideas why my classes are unable to be opened?

UPDATE 1: Earlier on I am getting these messages:

[31/07/14 13:30:35:675 EST] 00000098 wtp           W org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.commonarchivecore.internal.helpers.WARFileAnnotationsDetector locateAnnotations Failed to create class reader for [ WEB-INF/classes/ok/ApplicationInitializer.class ] in [ web.war ]: [ null ]
[31/07/14 13:30:35:675 EST] 00000098 wtp           W org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.commonarchivecore.internal.helpers.WARFileAnnotationsDetector locateAnnotations Failed to create class reader for [ WEB-INF/classes/ok/stuff/MyController.class ] in [ web.war ]: [ null ]

Answer 1

I had compiled with Java 8 and was running on Websphere Java 7.

I am using gradle as my build tool, and by default it uses the underlying JVM to compile java sources. Being JDK 1.8.0_11, this was the reason my classes could not be opened at runtime.

I feel very silly.