Eclipse Maven web application – can not run on server anymore

eclipseeclipse-wtpm2eclipsemaven-2web-applications

I have an maven eclipse webapp project that I was able to right click and 'Run on server' and it would deploy on tomcat. I recently did a 'maven -> Update project conifgurations' and I now can NOT deploy and run the project as a webapp. Has anyone seen this before? The only output from tomcat is as follows – it doesnt even look like its trying to deploy the application.

Apr 14, 2010 3:58:54 PM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener init
INFO: The APR based Apache Tomcat Native library which allows optimal performance in production environments was not found on the java.library.path: .:/Library/Java/Extensions:/System/Library/Java/Extensions:/usr/lib/java
Apr 14, 2010 3:58:54 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.SetPropertiesRule begin
WARNING: [SetPropertiesRule]{Server/Service/Engine/Host/Context} Setting property 'source' to 'org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.server:taac-web' did not find a matching property.
Apr 14, 2010 3:58:54 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol init
INFO: Initializing Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8080
Apr 14, 2010 3:58:54 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
INFO: Initialization processed in 402 ms
Apr 14, 2010 3:58:54 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService start
INFO: Starting service Catalina
Apr 14, 2010 3:58:54 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine start
INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/6.0.24
Apr 14, 2010 3:58:54 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol start
INFO: Starting Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8080
Apr 14, 2010 3:58:54 PM org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket init
INFO: JK: ajp13 listening on /0.0.0.0:8009
Apr 14, 2010 3:58:54 PM org.apache.jk.server.JkMain start
INFO: Jk running ID=0 time=0/14  config=null
Apr 14, 2010 3:58:54 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 247 ms

The POM is still set to WAR, but after cleaning the project I am now getting ClassNotFoundExceptions for libraries that are being included as Maven Dependencies:

SEVERE: Error configuring application listener of class org.springframework.security.web.session.HttpSessionEventPublisher
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.springframework.security.web.session.HttpSessionEventPublisher

Here is my POM:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>com.cable.wuntee.neto.nse</groupId>
  <artifactId>taac-web</artifactId>
  <packaging>war</packaging>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <name>taac-web JEE5 Webapp</name>
  <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
  <dependencies>

    <dependency>
      <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
      <artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
      <version>2.5</version>
      <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
      <groupId>javax.servlet.jsp</groupId>
      <artifactId>jsp-api</artifactId>
      <version>2.1</version>
      <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
      <groupId>junit</groupId>
      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
      <version>3.8.1</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-context-support</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.1.RELEASE</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.freemarker</groupId>
        <artifactId>freemarker</artifactId>
        <version>2.3.16</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-security-web</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.2.RELEASE</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-security-acl</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.2.RELEASE</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-security-config</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.2.RELEASE</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-security-core</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.2.RELEASE</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>cglib</groupId>
        <artifactId>cglib</artifactId>
        <version>2.2</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.ldap</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-ldap-core</artifactId>
        <version>1.3.0.RELEASE</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.ldap</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-ldap</artifactId>
        <version>1.3.0.RELEASE</version>
        <type>pom</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-security-ldap</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.2.RELEASE</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.cable.wuntee.neto.nse</groupId>
        <artifactId>wuntee.neto.nse-ldap</artifactId>
        <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.cable.wuntee.neto.nse</groupId>
        <artifactId>wuntee.neto.nse-cada</artifactId>
        <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.cable.wuntee.neto.nse</groupId>
        <artifactId>wuntee.neto.nse-sams</artifactId>
        <version>2.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.1.RELEASE</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.1.RELEASE</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
        <version>1.2.15</version>
        <type>jar</type>
        <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.0.2</version>
        <configuration>
          <source>1.5</source>
          <target>1.5</target>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
    <finalName>taac-web</finalName>
  </build>
</project>

Best Answer

I found the answer on

Tomcat & Spring Web - Class Not Found Exception org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener

you need to push Maven dependencies to the server when the project is published to it.

Right Click on your web project in Project Explorer -> select 'Properties'. Under project properties, select 'Deployment Assembly'.

The Deployment Assembly property page shows the content that will be published as a assembled artifact by Eclipse to the server. You need to tell Eclipse that you want all your Maven dependencies to be published too.

To do that, click 'Add' button, then select 'Java Build Path Entries'. Click Next and select Maven Dependencies. This will publish the Maven dependency JAR files to the lib folder when Eclipse publishes your project to WST server

Problems of popular approaches

Most of the answers you'll find around the internet will suggest you to either install the dependency to your local repository or specify a "system" scope in the pom and distribute the dependency with the source of your project. But both of these solutions are actually flawed.

Why you shouldn't apply the "Install to Local Repo" approach

When you install a dependency to your local repository it remains there. Your distribution artifact will do fine as long as it has access to this repository. The problem is in most cases this repository will reside on your local machine, so there'll be no way to resolve this dependency on any other machine. Clearly making your artifact depend on a specific machine is not a way to handle things. Otherwise this dependency will have to be locally installed on every machine working with that project which is not any better.

Why you shouldn't apply the "System Scope" approach

The jars you depend on with the "System Scope" approach neither get installed to any repository or attached to your target packages. That's why your distribution package won't have a way to resolve that dependency when used. That I believe was the reason why the use of system scope even got deprecated. Anyway you don't want to rely on a deprecated feature.

The static in-project repository solution

After putting this in your pom:

<repository>
    <id>repo</id>
    <releases>
        <enabled>true</enabled>
        <checksumPolicy>ignore</checksumPolicy>
    </releases>
    <snapshots>
        <enabled>false</enabled>
    </snapshots>
    <url>file://${project.basedir}/repo</url>
</repository>

for each artifact with a group id of form x.y.z Maven will include the following location inside your project dir in its search for artifacts:

repo/
| - x/
|   | - y/
|   |   | - z/
|   |   |   | - ${artifactId}/
|   |   |   |   | - ${version}/
|   |   |   |   |   | - ${artifactId}-${version}.jar

To elaborate more on this you can read this blog post.

Use Maven to install to project repo

Instead of creating this structure by hand I recommend to use a Maven plugin to install your jars as artifacts. So, to install an artifact to an in-project repository under repo folder execute:

mvn install:install-file -DlocalRepositoryPath=repo -DcreateChecksum=true -Dpackaging=jar -Dfile=[your-jar] -DgroupId=[...] -DartifactId=[...] -Dversion=[...]

If you'll choose this approach you'll be able to simplify the repository declaration in pom to:

<repository>
    <id>repo</id>
    <url>file://${project.basedir}/repo</url>
</repository>

A helper script

Since executing installation command for each lib is kinda annoying and definitely error prone, I've created a utility script which automatically installs all the jars from a lib folder to a project repository, while automatically resolving all metadata (groupId, artifactId and etc.) from names of files. The script also prints out the dependencies xml for you to copy-paste in your pom.

Include the dependencies in your target package

When you'll have your in-project repository created you'll have solved a problem of distributing the dependencies of the project with its source, but since then your project's target artifact will depend on non-published jars, so when you'll install it to a repository it will have unresolvable dependencies.

To beat this problem I suggest to include these dependencies in your target package. This you can do with either the Assembly Plugin or better with the OneJar Plugin. The official documentaion on OneJar is easy to grasp.

Best Answer

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