java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: jakarta.servlet.http.HttpSessionContext with Spring Boot 3 and Jetty server

Question

I community, I'm trying to run a small example with Spring boot 3 and Jetty server before upgrading the production code but I'm getting this error java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: jakarta.servlet.http.HttpSessionContext and the services does not start. This is my Gradle config.

plugins {
    id 'java'
    id 'idea'
    id 'org.springframework.boot' version '3.0.1'
    id 'io.spring.dependency-management' version '1.1.0'
}

idea {
    module {
        downloadJavadoc = false
        downloadSources = false
    }
}

group = 'com.example'
version = '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT'
sourceCompatibility = '17'

configurations {
    compileOnly {
        extendsFrom annotationProcessor
    }
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-security'

    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-jetty'
    implementation('org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web') {
        exclude group: 'org.springframework.boot', module: 'spring-boot-starter-tomcat'
    }

    compileOnly 'org.projectlombok:lombok'
    annotationProcessor 'org.projectlombok:lombok'
    testImplementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test'
}

tasks.named('test') {
    useJUnitPlatform()
}

and the dependeincies.

HttpSessionContext class no longer exists but somehow, the latest version Jetty still depends on it.

I'm expecting to make it run with Jetty without migrating to another server.

Answer 1

As Jaokim Erdfelt already mentioned, Spring Boot 3 rely on Jakarta Servlet 6.0.0 (see https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-boot/wiki/Spring-Boot-3.0-Release-Notes) and the spring-boot-starter-jetty includes Jetty 11 which is build on Jakarta Servlet 5.0.0 (see https://java.libhunt.com/jetty-project-changelog/11.0.0). So this is an Issue in the starter itself.

To use jetty you have to downgrade the jakarta-servlet version (see https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-boot/wiki/Spring-Boot-3.0-Migration-Guide#jetty) setting

ext["jakarta-servlet.version"] = "5.0.0"

Answer 2

For Spring Boot 3 and Jetty, you need a couple of dependencies.

• need the jakarta.servlet-api
• need the jetty-server
• need the spring-boot-starter-jetty

here is an example along with the versions

    <dependency>
        <groupId>jakarta.servlet</groupId>
        <artifactId>jakarta.servlet-api</artifactId>
        <version>6.0.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.eclipse.jetty</groupId>
        <artifactId>jetty-server</artifactId>
        <version>11.0.14</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-jetty</artifactId>
    </dependency>

Answer 3

Just wanted to share my experience with Spring Boot 3 and Java 17. I recently encountered an issue with my pom.xml while working on a project. However, I was able to resolve it by making a few adjustments.

To fix the problem, I excluded Tomcat from the spring-boot-starter-web dependency and instead added spring-boot-starter-jetty to my project. However, I noticed that Maven was not able to fetch the necessary dependency automatically.

To overcome this, I added the jakarta-servlet.version property with a value of 5 in my pom.xml properties file. This ensured that Maven correctly resolved the required dependency.

If you're facing a similar issue, you can try out the following pom.xml configuration:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<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 
https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<parent>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <version>3.0.5</version>
    <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
</parent>
<groupId>com.example</groupId>
<artifactId>demo</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<name>demo</name>
<description>Demo project for Spring Boot</description>

<!-- Add this property -->
<properties>
    <java.version>17</java.version>
    <jakarta-servlet.version>5.0.0</jakarta-servlet.version>
</properties>

<!-- Exclude Tomcat and add Jetty -->
<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-tomcat</artifactId>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-jetty</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>
</project>

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions or if there's anything else I can assist you with.

Happy coding! ‍

Answer 4

Add this line to your pom.xml properties:

<jakarta-servlet.version>5.0.0</jakarta-servlet.version>

Answer 5

Spring 3 is for Servlet 6 which is available in Jetty 12+