Getting NoSuchMethodError while starting tomcat - spring

Question

I've already looked at all the other answers that suggest updating the Maven dependencies in my pom.xml and making sure there aren't any old versions of spring-core in my lib folder, but I've already done that and I'm still getting the error. I'll provide my pom.xml, web.xml, and dispatcher-config.xml below.
POM
<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>com.bofa.ccvt</groupId>
<artifactId>speechservices</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<properties>
<springframework.version>5.2.3.RELEASE</springframework.version>
</properties>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
<version>4.0.1</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
<version>${springframework.version}</version>
<optional>false</optional>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
<artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
<version>${springframework.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
<version>${springframework.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-aspects</artifactId>
<version>${springframework.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-context-support</artifactId>
<version>${springframework.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-tx</artifactId>
<version>${springframework.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-test</artifactId>
<version>${springframework.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-jms</artifactId>
<version>${springframework.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
<version>${springframework.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-oxm</artifactId>
<version>${springframework.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-security-web</artifactId>
<version>5.2.1.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-security-core</artifactId>
<version>5.2.1.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<!-- Required for the http namespace in the spring configuration xml files -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-security-config</artifactId>
<version>5.2.1.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
<version>2.2.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-autoconfigure</artifactId>
<version>2.2.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-logging</artifactId>
<version>2.2.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
<version>2.2.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-json</artifactId>
<version>2.2.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-tomcat</artifactId>
<version>2.2.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-validation</artifactId>
<version>2.2.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
<version>2.2.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-test</artifactId>
<version>2.2.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-test-autoconfigure</artifactId>
<version>2.2.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.jayway.jsonpath</groupId>
<artifactId>json-path</artifactId>
<version>2.4.0</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
<artifactId>gson</artifactId>
<version>2.8.6</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>json-simple</groupId>
<artifactId>json-simple</artifactId>
<version>1.1</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
<version>1.7.30</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId>
<version>1.7.30</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
<version>1.7.30</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>log4j-over-slf4j</artifactId>
<version>1.7.30</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
<version>1.7.30</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
<artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
<version>1.2.3</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
<artifactId>logback-core</artifactId>
<version>1.2.3</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
<artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
<version>3.9</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
<sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.0.0</version>
<configuration>
<warSourceDirectory>WebContent</warSourceDirectory>
<webXml>WebContent/WEB-INF/web.xml</webXml>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.8.1</version>
<configuration>
<source>1.8</source>
<target>1.8</target>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2.4.RELEASE</version>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
<packaging>war</packaging>
</project>
WEB.XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:web="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee" xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd">
<display-name>SpeechServices</display-name>
<welcome-file-list>
<welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
</welcome-file-list>
<context-param>
<param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
<param-value>/WEB-INF/spring/dispatcher-config.xml</param-value>
</context-param>
<servlet>
<servlet-name>spring-dispatcher</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
<init-param>
<param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
<param-value>/WEB-INF/spring/dispatcher-config.xml</param-value>
</init-param>
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>spring-dispatcher</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<filter>
<filter-name>loggingFilter</filter-name>
<filter-class>org.springframework.web.filter.DelegatingFilterProxy</filter-class>
</filter>
<filter-mapping>
<filter-name>loggingFilter</filter-name>
<url-pattern>/SpeechServices/REST/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>
<listener>
<listener-class>
org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener
</listener-class>
</listener>
</web-app>
DISPATCHER-CONFIG
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
xmlns:task="http://www.springframework.org/schema/task" xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util"
xmlns:tx="http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx" xmlns:jee="http://www.springframework.org/schema/jee"
xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc" xmlns:sec="http://www.springframework.org/schema/security"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-4.3.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-4.3.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/task
http://www.springframework.org/schema/task/spring-task-4.3.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/util
http://www.springframework.org/schema/util/spring-util-4.3.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/jee
http://www.springframework.org/schema/jee/spring-jee-4.3.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema
http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-4.3.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/security
http://www.springframework.org/schema/security/spring-security-4.3.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc
http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-4.3.xsd">
<context:annotation-config></context:annotation-config>
<context:component-scan base-package="project.mypackages.*,project.mypackages.controller.*" />
<bean id="loggingFilter" class="project.mypackages.filter.LoggingFilter"></bean>
<mvc:annotation-driven/>
<bean id="viewResolver"
class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">
<property name="prefix">
<value>/WEB-INF/jsp/</value>
</property>
<property name="suffix">
<value>.jsp</value>
</property>
</bean>
</beans>
The project compiles just fine, but when I try to run it on a local Tomcat server, this is the error I get:
SEVERE: Error during ServletContainerInitializer processing
javax.servlet.ServletException: Failed to instantiate WebApplicationInitializer class at org.springframework.web.SpringServletContainerInitializer.onStartup(SpringServletContainerInitializer.java:158)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5303)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:145)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1408)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1398)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Caused by: java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.springframework.util.ReflectionUtils.accessibleConstructor(Ljava/lang/Class;[Ljava/lang/Class;)Ljava/lang/reflect/Constructor;
at org.springframework.web.SpringServletContainerInitializer.onStartup(SpringServletContainerInitializer.java:155)
... 8 more
Any help with this is appreciated.

Answer 1

Root cause: as exception mentioned, there is no accessibleConstructor() in org.springframework.util.ReflectionUtils. This method was there since Spring v5. Look into pom.xml, maybe some dependencies are using Spring version less than 5
Solution: To find such dependencies, you should run 'mvn dependency:tree' command and search for something related to 'org.springframework.util...' => most probably you'll see two versions. Then you should exclude any Spring dependencies which less than v5.