[FIXED] Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext - Tomcat 9

Issue

I've a application with spring boot + cassandra + spark. I builded the file .war, but it's not loading. I prepared the packed based on the spring boot's documentation. The pom, inicialization class, ...

I cheked all the stackoverflow about this topic, but I did not find any this like this.

However, I have this stacktrace:

12-Feb-2021 17:47:19.321 SEVERE [main] org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR Error deploying web application archive [/opt/tomcat/webapps/SSP-0.0.1.war]
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Error starting child
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:720)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:690)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:706)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:978)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployWar.run(HostConfig.java:1848)
    at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.InlineExecutorService.execute(InlineExecutorService.java:75)
    at java.util.concurrent.AbstractExecutorService.submit(AbstractExecutorService.java:112)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWARs(HostConfig.java:773)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:427)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1576)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:309)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:123)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.setStateInternal(LifecycleBase.java:423)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.setState(LifecycleBase.java:366)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:936)
    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.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.InlineExecutorService.execute(InlineExecutorService.java:75)
    at java.util.concurrent.AbstractExecutorService.submit(AbstractExecutorService.java:134)
    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:772)
    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.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:342)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:473)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[/SSP-0.0.1]]
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.handleSubClassException(LifecycleBase.java:440)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:198)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:717)
    ... 37 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.springframework.boot.cli.app.SpringApplicationWebApplicationInitializer.getSources(SpringApplicationWebApplicationInitializer.java:61)
    at org.springframework.boot.cli.app.SpringApplicationWebApplicationInitializer.onStartup(SpringApplicationWebApplicationInitializer.java:47)
    at org.springframework.web.SpringServletContainerInitializer.onStartup(SpringServletContainerInitializer.java:174)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5166)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    ... 38 more

The POM.XML

<?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>SSP</artifactId>
<packaging>war</packaging>
<version>0.0.1</version>
<name>SSP</name>
<parent>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <version>2.4.2</version>
    <relativePath /> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
</parent>
<properties>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
    <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
</properties>
<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>junit</groupId>
        <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework.boot/spring-boot-starter-web -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework.boot/spring-boot-starter-tomcat -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-tomcat</artifactId>
        <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.persistence</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.persistence-api</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework.boot/spring-boot-starter-data-cassandra -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-cassandra</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
        <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.python</groupId>
        <artifactId>jython</artifactId>
        <version>2.7.2</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.datastax.spark/spark-cassandra-connector -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.datastax.spark</groupId>
        <artifactId>spark-cassandra-connector_2.12</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.spark/spark-core -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.spark</groupId>
        <artifactId>spark-core_2.12</artifactId>
        <version>3.1.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.spark/spark-sql -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.spark</groupId>
        <artifactId>spark-sql_2.12</artifactId>
        <version>3.1.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
        <artifactId>commons-exec</artifactId>
        <version>1.3</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework/spring-core -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.javassist</groupId>
        <artifactId>javassist</artifactId>
        <version>3.27.0-GA</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.xml.bind</groupId>
        <artifactId>jaxb-api</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.webjars.npm/chart.js -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.webjars.npm</groupId>
        <artifactId>chart.js</artifactId>
        <version>2.9.3</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.webjars.bower/jquery -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.webjars.bower</groupId>
        <artifactId>jquery</artifactId>
        <version>3.2.1</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.commons/commons-math3 -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
        <artifactId>commons-math3</artifactId>
        <version>3.6.1</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.yaml/snakeyaml -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.yaml</groupId>
        <artifactId>snakeyaml</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.google.code.gson/gson -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
        <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.webjars/jquery -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.webjars</groupId>
        <artifactId>jquery</artifactId>
        <version>3.5.1</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.webjars/jquery-ui -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.webjars</groupId>
        <artifactId>jquery-ui</artifactId>
        <version>1.12.1</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
        <artifactId>commons-rng-parent</artifactId>
        <version>1.3</version>
        <type>pom</type>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.hamcrest</groupId>
        <artifactId>hamcrest-core</artifactId>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.json/json -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.json</groupId>
        <artifactId>json</artifactId>
        <version>20200518</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
        <artifactId>commons-math3</artifactId>
        <version>3.6.1</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.opencsv</groupId>
        <artifactId>opencsv</artifactId>
        <version>4.2</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.datastax.cassandra/cassandra-driver-core -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.datastax.cassandra</groupId>
        <artifactId>cassandra-driver-core</artifactId>
        <version>4.0.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/joda-time/joda-time -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>joda-time</groupId>
        <artifactId>joda-time</artifactId>
        <version>2.10.10</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework.boot/spring-boot-cli -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-cli</artifactId>
        <version>2.4.2</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-configuration-processor</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/javax.servlet/servlet-api -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
        <artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
        <version>2.5</version>
        <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
    <pluginManagement><!-- lock down plugins versions to avoid using Maven 
            defaults (may be moved to parent pom) -->
        <plugins>
            <!-- clean lifecycle, see https://maven.apache.org/ref/current/maven-core/lifecycles.html#clean_Lifecycle -->
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.1.0</version>
            </plugin>
            <!-- default lifecycle, jar packaging: see https://maven.apache.org/ref/current/maven-core/default-bindings.html#Plugin_bindings_for_jar_packaging -->
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.0.2</version>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.8.0</version>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.22.1</version>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.0.2</version>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-install-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.5.2</version>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.8.2</version>
            </plugin>
            <!-- site lifecycle, see https://maven.apache.org/ref/current/maven-core/lifecycles.html#site_Lifecycle -->
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-site-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.7.1</version>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-project-info-reports-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.0.0</version>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.2.6.RELEASE</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>repackage</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </pluginManagement>
    <resources>
        <resource>
            <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
            <filtering>true</filtering>
        </resource>
    </resources>
</build>

My SpringBootServletInitializer

@SpringBootApplication
@EntityScan(basePackages = { "br.com.genesis.*" })
@EnableCassandraRepositories(basePackages = { "br.com.genesis." })
@ComponentScan(basePackages = {"br.com.genesis.*"})
public class AppSSP extends SpringBootServletInitializer 
{
    public static void main( String[] args )
    {
        SpringApplication.run(AppSSP.class, args);
    }
}

Thanks for the help,

Solution

I can see org.springframework.boot.cli.app.SpringApplicationWebApplicationInitializer in the stack trace. That class is part of Spring Boot's CLI and shouldn't be involved when you're building an application with Maven or Gradle. Looking at your pom, I can see the following dependency:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-cli</artifactId>
    <version>2.4.2</version>
</dependency>

The CLI isn't intended to be used as a dependency and it's unlikely that your application needs it. Removing the dependency from your pom should fix the NullPointerException that's causing your application to fail to start.

You may also want to review some of the other versions in your pom.xml. For example, I can see that you're using 2.4.2 of spring-boot-starter-parent but have overridden the version of spring-boot-maven-plugin to 2.2.6.RELEASE. You should remove <version>2.2.6.RELEASE</version> and allow spring-boot-starter-parent to control the version.

Answered By - Andy Wilkinson