Why the cryptic MultipleFailureException error message with the SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.withAfterClasses method - spring

Question

Why is my spring test set up failing with the following not-so-useful error messages below? All suggestions are appreciated.
JUnit Output
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/junit/runners/model/MultipleFailureException
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.withAfterClasses(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:188)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.classBlock(ParentRunner.java:145)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:235)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run (SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:163)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit4.runner.JUnit4TestReference.run(JUnit4TestReference.java:50)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:459)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:675)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:382)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:192)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.junit.runners.model.MultipleFailureException
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
... 10 more
Console Output
INFO : org.springframework.test.context.support.DefaultTestContextBootstrapper - Loaded default TestExecutionListener class names from location [META-INF/spring.factories]: [org.springframework.test.context.web.ServletTestExecutionListener, org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener, org.springframework.test.context.support.DirtiesContextTestExecutionListener, org.springframework.test.context.transaction.TransactionalTestExecutionListener, org.springframework.test.context.jdbc.SqlScriptsTestExecutionListener]
INFO : org.springframework.test.context.support.DefaultTestContextBootstrapper - Could not instantiate TestExecutionListener [org.springframework.test.context.jdbc.SqlScriptsTestExecutionListener]. Specify custom listener classes or make the default listener classes (and their required dependencies) available. Offending class: [org/springframework/transaction/interceptor/TransactionAttribute]
INFO : org.springframework.test.context.support.DefaultTestContextBootstrapper - Could not instantiate TestExecutionListener [org.springframework.test.context.transaction.TransactionalTestExecutionListener]. Specify custom listener classes or make the default listener classes (and their required dependencies) available. Offending class: [org/springframework/transaction/interceptor/TransactionAttributeSource]
INFO : org.springframework.test.context.support.DefaultTestContextBootstrapper - Using TestExecutionListeners: [org.springframework.test.context.web.ServletTestExecutionListener#76959acc, org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener#57e603e6, org.springframework.test.context.support.DirtiesContextTestExecutionListener#3e0a1e1f]
Here is the target snippet
#Service
public class PipApps {
#Resource( name = "apps" )
private Properties apps;
#Autowired
private SitePreferenceHandler sitePreferenceHandler;
#Autowired
private PipsTable pipsTable;
private SitePreference sitePreference;
private Device device;
public PipApps( HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response ){
sitePreference = sitePreferenceHandler.handleSitePreference( request, response );
device = DeviceUtils.getRequiredCurrentDevice( request );
}
public Properties getApps(){
return apps;
}
public Device getDevice(){
return device;
}
public SitePreference getSitePreference(){
return sitePreference;
}
public DeviceRouteTable getPipsTable(){
return pipsTable;
}
}
And the test snippet
#RunWith( SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class )
#ContextConfiguration( locations={"src/test/resources/PipAppsTest-context.xml"} )
public class PipAppsTest {
#Mock
SitePreferenceHandler sitePreferenceHandler;
#Autowired
PipApps pipApps;
...
}

Answer 1

Update -- September 2015
Spring Framework 4.2.2 throws a more meaningful exception if JUnit 4.9 is not in the classpath. See SPR-13521 for details.
The following is an excerpt from the class-level Javadoc for SpringJUnit4ClassRunner:
NOTE: As of Spring Framework 4.1, this class requires JUnit 4.9 or higher.
The class in question, MultipleFailureException, was introduced in JUnit 4.9.
So that's why your test is failing with the ClassNotFoundException.
Upgrading to JUnit 4.9 (or preferably 4.12) will therefore solve your problem.
Regards,
Sam (author of the Spring TestContext Framework)