Grails Standalone app with Java Webstart fails with ClassNotFoundException: FilterDef

Question

I have added the Grails Standalone plugin to my app to create a light, standalone version of my app that I wish to launch using Java Webstart. Using the plugin alone and running the app from the commandline seems to work, but if I try to use webstart, I get the following error:

INFO: No global web.xml found Dec 15, 2014 2:13:42 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester startElement SEVERE: Begin event threw exception java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.apache.catalina.deploy.FilterDef at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1702) at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1547) at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.ObjectCreateRule.begin(ObjectCreateRule.java:144) at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.startElement(Digester.java:1276) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.startElement(AbstractSAXParser.java:509) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanStartElement(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:1363) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDriver.next(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:2786) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl.ne xt(XMLDocumentScannerImpl.java:606) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:510) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:848) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:777) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(XMLParser.java:141) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(AbstractSAXParser.java:1213) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(SAXParserImpl.java:648) at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1537) at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.parseWebXml(ContextConfig.java:1899) at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.webConfig(ContextConfig.java:1252) at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.configureStart(ContextConfig.java:878) at org.apache.catalina.startup.Context Config.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:376) at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:119) at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:90) at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5322) at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150) at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1559) at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1549) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:262) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Dec 15, 2014 2:13:42 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig parseWebXml SEVERE: Parse error in application web.xml file at jndi:/localhost/hl/WEB-INF/web.xml org.xml.sax.SAXParseException; systemId: jndi:/localhost/hl/WEB-INF/web.xml; lineNumber: 15; columnNumber: 10; Error at (15, 10) : org.apache.catalina.deploy.FilterDef at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.createSAXException(Digester.java:2687) at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.createSAXException(Digester.java:2719) at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.startElement(Digester.java:1279) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.startElement(AbstractSAXParser.java:509) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanStartElement(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:1363) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDriver.next(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:2786) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl.next(XMLDocumentScannerImpl.java:606) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:510) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configurati on.java:848) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:777) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(XMLParser.java:141) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(AbstractSAXParser.java:1213) at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(SAXParserImpl.java:648) at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1537) at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.parseWebXml(ContextConfig.java:1899) at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.webConfig(ContextConfig.java:1252) at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.configureStart(ContextConfig.java:878) at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:376) at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:119) at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:90) at org.apache.catalina.core.St andardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5322) at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150) at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1559) at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1549) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:262) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745) Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.apache.catalina.deploy.FilterDef at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1702) at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1547) at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.ObjectCreateRule.begin(ObjectCreateRule.java:144) at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.startElement(Digester.java:1276) ... 25 more

Dec 15, 2014 2:13:42 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig parseWebXml SEVERE: Occurred at line 15 column 10 Dec 15, 2014 2:13:42 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig configureStart SEVERE: Marking this application unavailable due to previous error(s) Dec 15, 2014 2:13:43 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.TaglibUriRule body INFO: TLD skipped. URI: http://www.springframework.org/tags is already defined Dec 15, 2014 2:13:43 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext startInternal SEVERE: Error getConfigured Dec 15, 2014 2:13:43 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext startInternal SEVERE: Context [/hl] startup failed due to previous errors SEVERE: Context [/hl] failed in [org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext] lifecycle. Allowing Tomcat to shutdown. Dec 15, 2014 2:13:43 PM org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader clearReferencesJdbc WARNING: JDBC driver de-registration failed for web application [/hl] java.lang.NullPointerException at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.clearReferencesJdbc(WebappClassLoader.java:2042) at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.clearReferences(WebappClassLoader.java:1978) at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.stop(WebappClassLoader.java:1890) at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappLoader.stopInternal(WebappLoader.java:662) at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.stop(LifecycleBase.java:232) at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.stopInternal(StandardContext.java:5669) at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.stop(LifecycleBase.java:232) at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:160) at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1559) at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1 549) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:262) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Dec 15, 2014 2:13:43 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-8080"] Server running. Browse to http://myurl.com:8080/hl

My guess is that the way Tomcat is handled by the Webstart launcher is different with regard to the path of the extracted war in relation to the jar file containing the Tomcat binaries, but I am having a difficult time getting around this.

Answer 1

OK, I was so hot-to-trot on my deployment solution I forgot one critical fact: Grails requires a JDK, Java Webstart provides a JRE, not a JDK JVM. As I see it, using Java Webstart will not work, no matter what I do.

Lesson learned - step back from the minutiae of config files and version conflicts and look at your overall design when you have something that you can't seem to get past.

I should not I found 2 issues that caused this problem, 1 is the existence of a context.xml file in webapps/META-INF/ that when removed caused this problem to go away: http://grails.1312388.n4.nabble.com/Upgrade-to-tomcat-7-0-47-fails-with-web-xml-issue-td4652196.html

Another was the lack of a grails.project.fork configuration in BuildConfig.groovy

https://jira.grails.org/browse/GRAILS-10832

Both of these issues were found in versions close to what I was using, using the exact same Tomcat version I was using.