UnsupportedClassVersionError deploying Spring 3.x in Tomcat 5 + Java 1.5

Question

I'm trying to deploy a web application built using Spring 3.1.2 in a server running Tomcat 5.5 + Java 1.5. This app works perfectly in my local machine with Tomcat 6 + Java 1.6, and as you can imagine it doesn't in the server. I can compile my own classes with JDK 1.5, but i don't know how to do it with Spring libraries, any idea?

UPDATE:

In my pom.xml i have this to ensure i'm compiling with Java 1.5:

<plugin>
    <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
    <configuration>
        <source>1.5</source>
        <target>1.5</target>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

And this is the stacktrace i'm getting:

09:21:37,940 ERROR [[/saml2Sample]:3767] Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.security.saml.SAMLBootstrap#0' defined in class path resource [security/securityContext.xml]: Instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: Bad version number in .class file
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.instantiateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:997)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:943)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:485)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:294)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:225)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:197)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.getBean(AbstractApplicationContext.java:1102)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:674)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:451)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:383)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:283)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:111)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:3763)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4211)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:759)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:739)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:524)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:809)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:497)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.check(HostConfig.java:1204)
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:585)
at org.apache.commons.modeler.BaseModelMBean.invoke(BaseModelMBean.java:503)
at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.DynamicMetaDataImpl.invoke(DynamicMetaDataImpl.java:213)
at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.MetaDataImpl.invoke(MetaDataImpl.java:220)
at com.sun.jmx.interceptor.DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.invoke(DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.java:815)
at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.JmxMBeanServer.invoke(JmxMBeanServer.java:784)
at org.apache.catalina.manager.ManagerServlet.check(ManagerServlet.java:1377)
at org.apache.catalina.manager.HTMLManagerServlet.doPost(HTMLManagerServlet.java:212)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:709)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:802)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:252)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:173)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:213)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:178)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:524)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:126)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:105)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.FastCommonAccessLogValve.invoke(FastCommonAccessLogValve.java:495)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:541)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:107)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:148)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:869)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11BaseProtocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.processConnection(Http11BaseProtocol.java:664)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.PoolTcpEndpoint.processSocket(PoolTcpEndpoint.java:527)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.LeaderFollowerWorkerThread.runIt(LeaderFollowerWorkerThread.java:80)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:684)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:595)

Caused by: java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: Bad version number in .class file
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:620)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:124)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClassInternal(WebappClassLoader.java:1815)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClass(WebappClassLoader.java:869)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1322)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1201)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoader.java:319)
at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredConstructors0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredConstructors(Class.java:2357)
at java.lang.Class.getConstructor0(Class.java:2671)
at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredConstructor(Class.java:1953)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.SimpleInstantiationStrategy.instantiate(SimpleInstantiationStrategy.java:67)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.instantiateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:990)
... 51 more

Thanks in advance.

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 05 '12 at 18:19

I think you might be confused about the necessity of compiling Spring classes for Java 5. You don't have to recompile Spring (I'm pretty sure that Spring 3.x is still being compiled for Java 5+ JVM's).

I think what might be happening is that your war file contains your classes compiled for JDK6 which the Java 5 JVM can't handle. Double check your project's compiler settings to make sure that it is creating 1.5 compatible class files. In Eclipse, it's in the Project Properties/Java Compiler area. With Ant, it's an attribute of the javac task. With Maven, it's the compiler plugin configuration.

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

0

Package all spring jars in your "WEB-INF/lib".

Per Spring 3.1.2. Documentation: http://static.springsource.org/spring/docs/3.1.2.RELEASE/spring-framework-reference/html/new-in-3.0.html#new-in-3.0-intro

Java SE and Java EE Support

The Spring Framework is now based on Java 5, and Java 6 is fully supported.

Furthermore, Spring is compatible with J2EE 1.4 and Java EE 5, while at the same time introducing some early support for Java EE 6.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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1

answered Dec 05 '12 at 13:58

Yogendra Singh

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Hey Yogendra, thanks for answering. I'm not sure if i understand you, all jars are already under WEB-INF/lib, but the problem is that they are compiled using Java 1.6 and the server is using Java 1.5, so i get the UnsupportedClassVersionError. – Dani Dec 05 '12 at 14:05
@Dani I updated the answer. It must not be Spring incompatibility. Share the stack trace of your error. – Yogendra Singh Dec 05 '12 at 14:16

UnsupportedClassVersionError deploying Spring 3.x in Tomcat 5 + Java 1.5

2 Answers2