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Beandefinitionstoreexception Failed to Read Candidate Component Class

James H. Sterling • • 7 min read
Beandefinitionstoreexception Failed to Read Candidate Component Class

Can someone tell me how to solve this issue?

I have narrowed down the problem to the pom.xml file. My project works but when I add the following dependency I get an error

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.data</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-data-jpa</artifactId>
        <version>1.3.2.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>

The error stack is as follow 

ERROR DispatcherServlet - Context initialization failed
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Failed to read candidate component class: file [C:\workspace-sts\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp1\wtpwebapps\Webtest1\WEB-INF\classes\com\springweb\controller\SetHomePageController.class]; nested exception is java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError: class org.springframework.core.type.classreading.ClassMetadataReadingVisitor has interface org.springframework.asm.ClassVisitor as super class
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.findCandidateComponents(ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.java:290) ~[spring-context-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathBeanDefinitionScanner.doScan(ClassPathBeanDefinitionScanner.java:242) ~[spring-context-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScanBeanDefinitionParser.parse(ComponentScanBeanDefinitionParser.java:84) ~[spring-context-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.NamespaceHandlerSupport.parse(NamespaceHandlerSupport.java:73) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.parseCustomElement(BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.java:1438) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.parseCustomElement(BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.java:1428) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.parseBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:185) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.doRegisterBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:139) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.registerBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:108) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.registerBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:493) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:390) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:334) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:302) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:174) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:209) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:180) ~[spring-beans-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlWebApplicationContext.java:125) ~[spring-web-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlWebApplicationContext.java:94) ~[spring-web-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.refreshBeanFactory(AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.java:130) ~[spring-context-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.obtainFreshBeanFactory(AbstractApplicationContext.java:537) ~[spring-context-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:451) ~[spring-context-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:651) ~[spring-webmvc-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:599) ~[spring-webmvc-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:665) ~[spring-webmvc-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:518) ~[spring-webmvc-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initServletBean(FrameworkServlet.java:459) ~[spring-webmvc-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.HttpServletBean.init(HttpServletBean.java:136) [spring-webmvc-3.2.3.RELEASE.jar:3.2.3.RELEASE]
    at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:160) [servlet-api.jar:3.0.FR]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.Standar

I can't understand what is wrong with the dependency, I need spring-data jpa dependency later when I'm going to add a dao that uses extends JpaRepository.

Thanks in advance.

10 Answers

Another reason is use of Spring 3 with Java 8. Java 8 requires Spring 4.

(not specific to this question, but for those who are googling the error message)

3

You most likely have conflicting Spring dependencies on your classpath. It's probably an old spring-asm JAR.

Run mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=:spring*:: and check for conflicts. The best way to avoid these is to put a dependency on the spring-framework-bom in your project's dependencyManagement section, as follows

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-framework-bom</artifactId>
            <version>4.0.3.RELEASE</version>
            <type>pom</type>
            <scope>import</scope>
        </dependency>

These versions are supported.

7

I am using spring 3.2.3.RELEASE.When i changed the jdk.version 1.8 to 1.6 in maven compiler plug-in it started working

<plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.3.2</version>
        <configuration>
            <source>${jdk.version}</source>
            <target>${jdk.version}</target>
        </configuration>
</plugin>
1

If anyone is still facing this error and is refering the getting started guide from spring.io, not using the defaut package and placing your class files under a new package did the trick for me.

1

How to solve this problem?

Solution1:Change spring version to >= 3.2.16.

Solution2:If your spring versin is low than 3.2.16, dont use Annotation such as :@Service @Controller and so on. Use bean.xml define a bean, the bean.xml don't contians "<context:component-scan base-package=""/>". if you must use <context:component-scan base-package=""/> please put in other bean.xml.

I had a problem like yours, I added dependency Spring core to maven and all works

Example:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
    <version>5.3.17</version>
</dependency>

Upgrading Java and Spring versions resolved my problem. I just added the following to pom.xml

<parent>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <version>3.0.5</version>
    <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
</parent>


<properties>
    <java.version>17</java.version>
</properties>
1

In my case I had dependencies that brought in the spring-asm dependency that conflicted with the latest Spring core. So in Dependency Hierarchy search for "asm" and exclude spring asm from all dependencies having it.

My case: 1)

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.restlet.jee</groupId>
    <artifactId>org.restlet.ext.fileupload</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.1</version>
        <exclusions>
                <exclusion>
                  <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
                  <artifactId>spring-asm</artifactId>
               </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
</dependency>

2)

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.restlet.jee</groupId>
    <artifactId>org.restlet.ext.spring</artifactId>
    <version>2.1.2</version>
         <exclusions>
                  <exclusion>
                         <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
                         <artifactId>spring-asm</artifactId>
                  </exclusion>
         </exclusions>
</dependency>

I had a similar error due to a corrupted class file -- somehow the CI build had a zero bytes class file in the jar (despite a non-zero inner class file being present, others ok) - one broken file out of ~100 classes. It might have been a disk space issue, but took a while to realise (since the class was in a dependent project jar, built by Gradle into a fat-jar for a Spring Boot project).

When I tried to change the sequence of jars in the build path with <classpathentry kind="lib" path="/CoreTrainSim-Software-COTS/spring_jars/spring-core-5.1.7.RELEASE.jar"/>

it worked

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James H. Sterling
Author

James H. Sterling

James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.