[FIXED] SEVERE: Error configuring class [org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener] NoClassDefFoundError: javax/servlet/ServletContextListener

Issue

I am trying to create a SOAP java first web service using Apache CXF and starting from maven archetype: org.apache.cxf.archetype. My application server is a standard Apache Tomcat v10.0.

pom.xml:

<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.tsdevelopment</groupId>
    <artifactId>soap-cxf-javafirst-tomcat</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>war</packaging>
    <name>Simple CXF Java-first SOAP project using Spring configuration</name>
    <description>Simple CXF Java-first SOAP project using Spring configuration</description>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
            <artifactId>cxf-rt-frontend-jaxws</artifactId>
            <version>3.4.4</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.cxf</groupId>
            <artifactId>cxf-rt-transports-http</artifactId>
            <version>3.4.4</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
            <version>5.2.15.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>4.13.2</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
            <version>4.0.1</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.3.1</version>
            <type>maven-plugin</type>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <pluginManagement>
            <plugins>
                <plugin>
                    <!-- mvn clean install tomcat:run-war to deploy
                    Look for "Running war on http://xxx" and
                    "Setting the server's publish address to be /yyy"
                    in console output; WSDL browser address will be
                    concatenation of the two: http://xxx/yyy?wsdl
                    -->
                    <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.maven</groupId>
                    <artifactId>tomcat7-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                    <version>2.0</version>
                    <executions>
                        <execution>
                            <id>start-tomcat</id>
                            <goals>
                                <goal>run-war</goal>
                            </goals>
                            <phase>pre-integration-test</phase>
                            <configuration>
                                <port>${test.server.port}</port>
                                <path>/webservice</path>
                                <fork>true</fork>
                                <useSeparateTomcatClassLoader>true</useSeparateTomcatClassLoader>
                            </configuration>
                        </execution>
                    </executions>
                </plugin>
                <plugin>
                    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                    <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                    <configuration>
                        <source>16</source>
                        <target>16</target>
                    </configuration>
                </plugin>
                <plugin>
                    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                    <artifactId>maven-eclipse-plugin</artifactId>
                    <configuration>
                        <projectNameTemplate>[artifactId]-[version]</projectNameTemplate>
                        <wtpmanifest>true</wtpmanifest>
                        <wtpapplicationxml>true</wtpapplicationxml>
                        <wtpversion>2.0</wtpversion>
                    </configuration>
                </plugin>
                <plugin>
                    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                    <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
                    <version>3.3.1</version>
                </plugin>
            </plugins>
        </pluginManagement>
    </build>

</project>

Full Error:

SEVERE: Error configuring application listener of class [org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener]
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/servlet/ServletContextListener
    at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.findBootstrapClass(Native Method)
    at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.findBootstrapClassOrNull(ClassLoader.java:1260)
    at java.base/java.lang.System$2.findBootstrapClassOrNull(System.java:2196)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$BootClassLoader.loadClassOrNull(ClassLoaders.java:135)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClassOrNull(BuiltinClassLoader.java:695)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClassOrNull(BuiltinClassLoader.java:671)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:634)
    at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:519)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoaderBase.loadClass(WebappClassLoaderBase.java:1284)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoaderBase.loadClass(WebappClassLoaderBase.java:1187)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.loadClass(DefaultInstanceManager.java:540)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.loadClassMaybePrivileged(DefaultInstanceManager.java:521)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.newInstance(DefaultInstanceManager.java:151)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4589)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5126)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1384)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1374)
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.InlineExecutorService.execute(InlineExecutorService.java:75)
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.AbstractExecutorService.submit(AbstractExecutorService.java:145)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:909)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:843)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1384)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1374)
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.InlineExecutorService.execute(InlineExecutorService.java:75)
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.AbstractExecutorService.submit(AbstractExecutorService.java:145)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:909)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:262)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:434)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:930)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:795)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:78)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:567)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:342)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:473)

Solution

Spring framework yet to support Tomcat 10.

Tomcat 10 uses Jakarta EE 9 which migrated javax.* packages to jakarta.* so Spring Framework yet to support jakarta.* packages.

Until Spring framework supports Tomcat 10 you must use Tomcat 9.

References:

1. Spring boot does not work with Tomcat 10 #22414
2. Support for Jakarta EE 9 (annotations and interfaces in jakarta.* namespace) #25354

Answered By - Karthikeyan Vaithilingam