[FIXED] Issues with spring-security dependencies using Maven

Issue

I am using Spring Framework to create a web application, and using maven as a builder.

In order to interact with Spring's security features, I have added to my pom.xml two different dependencies:

      <dependency>
           <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
           <artifactId>spring-security-web</artifactId>
           <version>4.0.3.RELEASE</version>
      </dependency>

      <dependency>
           <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
           <artifactId>spring-security-config</artifactId>
           <version>4.0.3.RELEASE</version>
      </dependency>

I ordered maven to clean package and executed mvn spring-boot:run to get the following error message:

java.lang.IllegalAccessError: tried to access method org.springframework.core.convert.support.DefaultConversionService.addCollectionConverters(Lorg/springframework/core/convert/converter/ConverterRegistry;)V from class org.springframework.boot.bind.RelaxedConversionService

From the stack trace, (added below) I understand that the error starts with the main function, which is placed in Program.java file.

The main function is the following:

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

Things to note and speculations

My pom.xml file is compiled from various tutorials I have read online, and once I got all to work together I continued.

Furthermore, I am working behind a corporate network where there is a local repository, so some of the dependencies might not be up to date or the latest version available. There might be a mismatch of versions somewhere in the pom, but I cannot seem to trace one.

To (try to) recreate the error, copy the pom.xml below and add the 2 dependencies.
If failed to recreate, I can only assume one of the packages is damaged or corrupt (I have encountered bad packages on the local repository a few times).

My pom.xml without the two new dependencies (works just fine when ran):

<?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 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">

<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>ssp</groupId>
<artifactId>sspserver</artifactId>
<version>1.0</version>

<packaging>jar</packaging>

<properties>
    <java.version>1.8</java.version>
</properties>

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.6.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId>
        <optional>true</optional>
        <version>1.5.6.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.6.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.github.eirslett</groupId>
        <artifactId>frontend-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>1.3</version>
    </dependency>
    
    <!-- Local jars -->
    
    <dependency>
        <groupId>SSPClient</groupId>
        <artifactId>SSPClient</artifactId>
        <scope>system</scope>
        <version>1.0.0</version>
        <systemPath>${basedir}\lib\SSPClient.jar</systemPath>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>smp8</groupId>
        <artifactId>smp8</artifactId>
        <scope>system</scope>
        <version>1.0.0</version>
        <systemPath>${basedir}\lib\smp8.jar</systemPath>
    </dependency>

</dependencies>

<build>
    <finalName>sspserver</finalName>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>1.5.6.RELEASE</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.1</version>
            <configuration>
                <source>1.8</source>
                <target>1.8</target>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>
</project>

Entire stack trace:

java.lang.IllegalAccessError: tried to access method org.springframework.core.convert.support.DefaultConversionService.addCollectionConverters(Lorg/springframework/core/convert/converter/ConverterRegistry;)V from class org.springframework.boot.bind.RelaxedConversionService
at org.springframework.boot.bind.RelaxedConversionService.<init>(RelaxedConversionService.java:52)
at org.springframework.boot.bind.RelaxedDataBinder.modifyProperties(RelaxedDataBinder.java:148)
at org.springframework.boot.bind.RelaxedDataBinder.doBind(RelaxedDataBinder.java:128)
at org.springframework.validation.DataBinder.bind(DataBinder.java:715)
at org.springframework.boot.bind.PropertiesConfigurationFactory.doBindPropertiesToTarget(PropertiesConfigurationFactory.java:272)
at org.springframework.boot.bind.PropertiesConfigurationFactory.bindPropertiesToTarget(PropertiesConfigurationFactory.java:240)
at org.springframework.boot.context.config.ConfigFileApplicationListener.bindToSpringApplication(ConfigFileApplicationListener.java:241)
at org.springframework.boot.context.config.ConfigFileApplicationListener.postProcessEnvironment(ConfigFileApplicationListener.java:197)
at org.springframework.boot.context.config.ConfigFileApplicationListener.onApplicationEnvironmentPreparedEvent(ConfigFileApplicationListener.java:182)
at org.springframework.boot.context.config.ConfigFileApplicationListener.onApplicationEvent(ConfigFileApplicationListener.java:168)
at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.invokeListener(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:163)
at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.multicastEvent(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:136)
at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.multicastEvent(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:119)
at org.springframework.boot.context.event.EventPublishingRunListener.environmentPrepared(EventPublishingRunListener.java:74)
at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplicationRunListeners.environmentPrepared(SpringApplicationRunListeners.java:54)
at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.prepareEnvironment(SpringApplication.java:325)
at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:296)
at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1118)
at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1107)
at cpssp.Program.main(Program.java:10)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at org.springframework.boot.devtools.restart.RestartLauncher.run(RestartLauncher.java:49)

Solution

The issue was that I was trying to use spring-security-* with spring-boot.

Instead, I needed to use:

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.6.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>

Which is compatible with spring-boot.

Answered By - Cybrus
Answer Checked By - Katrina (JavaFixing Volunteer)