[FIXED] ConfigServletWebServerApplicationContext: nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: jakarta/servlet/jsp/JspFactory using Tomcat 10 - Spring

Issue

I am trying to make the SpringBoot tutorial from Youtube. But in IntelliJ + Maven, not Eclipse. At the 1 hour mark, they add the jasper dependency and then run the program and it works nicely.

Before I add the jasper dependency, I have no errors. After I add it, I get this error:

Exception encountered during context initialization - cancelling refresh attempt: org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: Unable to start web server; nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: jakarta/servlet/jsp/JspFactory. 

This is my main App File:

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.support.SpringBootServletInitializer;

@SpringBootApplication
public class CoursesWebApp {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(CoursesWebApp.class, args);
    }

}

and the controller file

package com.example.springboot;

import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;

@Controller
public class CoursesController {

    @RequestMapping("/courses")
    public void coursesDisplay() {
        System.out.println("Welcome to courses!");
        //return "course.jsp";
    }
}

This is my pom.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<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 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>2.5.2</version>
        <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
    </parent>
    <groupId>com.example</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <name>spring-boot</name>
    <description>Project for Spring Boot</description>
    <properties>
        <java.version>1.8</java.version>
    </properties>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-jersey</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web-services</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tomcat</groupId>
            <artifactId>tomcat-jasper</artifactId>
            <version>10.0.8</version>
        </dependency>
        
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

I have installed Tomcat version 10.0.8 and matched the Jasper with the same version.

I tried to make public class CoursesWebApp extends SpringBootServletInitializer, didn't work.

There is the annotation for @SpringBootApplication.

I tried to add

<dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.embed</groupId>
       <artifactId>tomcat-embed-jasper</artifactId>
       <scope>provided</scope>
   </dependency>

With scope changed to default or compile, didn't work.

I am utterly new at this and I have no idea how to fix it. It feels like it's something small, but I can't see it.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Solution

Tomcat 10 implements the Servlet 5.0 and JSP 3.0 APIs which Spring Boot does not yet support. You should use Tomcat 9.0.x, which implements Servlet 4.0 and JSP 2.3, instead.

Answered By - Andy Wilkinson
Answer Checked By - Clifford M. (JavaFixing Volunteer)