tomcat7:run fails where as tomcat7:run-war-only works - maven

Question

I have a simple (REST) web app which throws below error when I run mvn tomcat7:run,
where as it works fine with mvn tomcat7:run-war-only.
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] BUILD ERROR
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Could not start Tomcat
Embedded error: Failed to start component [StandardServer[-1]]
A child container failed during start
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Trace
org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Could not start Tomcat
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:719)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeStandaloneGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:569)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:539)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoalAndHandleFailures(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:387)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeTaskSegments(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:348)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.execute(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:180)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:328)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:138)
at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:362)
at org.apache.maven.cli.compat.CompatibleMain.main(CompatibleMain.java:60)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:315)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:255)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:430)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:375)
Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException: Could not start Tomcat
at org.apache.tomcat.maven.plugin.tomcat7.run.AbstractRunMojo.execute(AbstractRunMojo.java:486)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:490)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:694)
... 17 more
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardServer[-1]]
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Tomcat.start(Tomcat.java:335)
at org.apache.tomcat.maven.plugin.tomcat7.run.AbstractRunMojo.startContainer(AbstractRunMojo.java:1018)
at org.apache.tomcat.maven.plugin.tomcat7.run.AbstractRunMojo.execute(AbstractRunMojo.java:478)
... 19 more
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardService[Tomcat]]
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:732)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
... 22 more
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Tomcat]]
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:443)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
... 24 more
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: A child container failed during start
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1131)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:302)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
... 26 more
Below is tomcat configuration from pom.xml,
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.tomcat.maven</groupId>
<artifactId>tomcat7-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<contextFile>${basedir}/src/test/resources/context.xml</contextFile>
<useTestClasspath>true</useTestClasspath>
<systemProperties>
<systemProperty>
<name>maven.tomcat.port</name>
<value>8090</value>
</systemProperty>
</systemProperties>
</configuration>
<version>2.0</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>tomcat7-run</id>
<goals>
<goal>run-war-only</goal>
</goals>
<phase>pre-integration-test</phase>
<configuration>
<fork>true</fork>
<port>8090</port>
</configuration>
</execution>
<execution>
<id>tomcat-shutdown</id>
<goals>
<goal>shutdown</goal>
</goals>
<phase>post-integration-test</phase>
<configuration>
<fork>true</fork>
<port>8090</port>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.apache.xbean</groupId>
<artifactId>xbean-spring</artifactId>
<version>3.4.3</version>
<scope>compile</scope>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
</plugin>
Any help on how to resolve this this issue or how to debug this further will be appreciated.
Thanks and Regards,
Shrey

Answer 1

In my case it happened because of servlet-api dependency coming from jetty. It's unclear from stacktrace but it can be found when debugging tomcat plugin.
Check out maven dependencies for your module with mvn dependency:tree and look for servlet-api transitive dependencies. Once found exclude it from build.