SEVERE: Unable to process Jar entry [module-info.class] in Tomcat 7 && Java 8

Question

I deployed war files in tomcat 7 , java 8 && Eclipse Version: Luna Service Release 1 (4.4.1)

While running it is showing following error.

INFO: validateJarFile(D:\EclipseWorkspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\administration\WEB-INF\lib\javax.el-api-3.0.0.jar) - jar not loaded. See Servlet Spec 3.0, section 10.7.2. Offending class: javax/el/Expression.class
Oct 30, 2018 4:03:19 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig processAnnotationsJar
SEVERE: Unable to process Jar entry [module-info.class] from Jar [jar:file:/D:/AdminUiAngularEclipseWorkspace/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.wst.server.core/tmp0/wtpwebapps/code-connect-administration/WEB-INF/lib/yasson-1.0.jar!/] for annotations
org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassFormatException: Invalid byte tag in constant pool: 19
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.Constant.readConstant(Constant.java:136)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ConstantPool.<init>(ConstantPool.java:59)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassParser.readConstantPool(ClassParser.java:208)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassParser.parse(ClassParser.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsStream(ContextConfig.java:2058)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsJar(ContextConfig.java:1934)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsUrl(ContextConfig.java:1900)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotations(ContextConfig.java:1885)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.webConfig(ContextConfig.java:1317)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.configureStart(ContextConfig.java:876)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:374)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:117)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:90)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5378)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1575)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1565)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Oct 30, 2018 4:03:19 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig processAnnotationsJar
SEVERE: Unable to process Jar entry [module-info.class] from Jar [jar:file:/D:/AdminUiAngularEclipseWorkspace/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.wst.server.core/tmp0/wtpwebapps/code-connect-administration/WEB-INF/lib/javax.json-1.1.jar!/] for annotations
org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassFormatException: Invalid byte tag in constant pool: 19
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.Constant.readConstant(Constant.java:136)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ConstantPool.<init>(ConstantPool.java:59)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassParser.readConstantPool(ClassParser.java:208)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassParser.parse(ClassParser.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsStream(ContextConfig.java:2058)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsJar(ContextConfig.java:1934)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsUrl(ContextConfig.java:1900)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotations(ContextConfig.java:1885)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.webConfig(ContextConfig.java:1317)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.configureStart(ContextConfig.java:876)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:374)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:117)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:90)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5378)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1575)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1565)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Oct 30, 2018 4:03:20 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig processAnnotationsJar
SEVERE: Unable to process Jar entry [module-info.class] from Jar [jar:file:/D:/AdminUiAngularEclipseWorkspace/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.wst.server.core/tmp0/wtpwebapps/code-connect-administration/WEB-INF/lib/javax.json.bind-api-1.0.jar!/] for annotations
org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassFormatException: Invalid byte tag in constant pool: 19
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.Constant.readConstant(Constant.java:136)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ConstantPool.<init>(ConstantPool.java:59)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassParser.readConstantPool(ClassParser.java:208)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassParser.parse(ClassParser.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsStream(ContextConfig.java:2058)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsJar(ContextConfig.java:1934)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsUrl(ContextConfig.java:1900)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotations(ContextConfig.java:1885)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.webConfig(ContextConfig.java:1317)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.configureStart(ContextConfig.java:876)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:374)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:117)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:90)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5378)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1575)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1565)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Oct 30, 2018 4:03:20 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig processAnnotationsJar
SEVERE: Unable to process Jar entry [module-info.class] from Jar [jar:file:/D:/AdminUiAngularEclipseWorkspace/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.wst.server.core/tmp0/wtpwebapps/code-connect-administration/WEB-INF/lib/javax.json-api-1.1.jar!/] for annotations
org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassFormatException: Invalid byte tag in constant pool: 19
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.Constant.readConstant(Constant.java:136)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ConstantPool.<init>(ConstantPool.java:59)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassParser.readConstantPool(ClassParser.java:208)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.bcel.classfile.ClassParser.parse(ClassParser.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsStream(ContextConfig.java:2058)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsJar(ContextConfig.java:1934)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotationsUrl(ContextConfig.java:1900)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.processAnnotations(ContextConfig.java:1885)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.webConfig(ContextConfig.java:1317)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.configureStart(ContextConfig.java:876)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:374)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:117)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:90)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5378)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1575)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1565)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Can you please help on this.

Carolann

The code has been compiled for Java 9 or newer. Even when you replace the bcel library with a version which can handle this class file, the code won’t run on Java 8. – Nephogram

This is probably not worth an full answer, but in my case, the project was already configured for Tomcat 8, and I was still having the issue. What did it for me was to delete the project (without removing files) delete .settings, .project, .classpath, target/ content, .m2/repository/ content and reimporting the project as a maven project from scratch and adding it again to TomCat. It was some rubbish leftover configuration somewhere – Thorfinn

Answer 1

Try to upgrade the version of TomCat. This is fixed in:

- trunk for 9.0.0.M18 onwards
- 8.5.x for 8.5.12 onwards
- 8.0.x for 8.0.42 onwards
- 7.0.x for 7.0.76 onwards

The reason it doesn't work is because you use modularized (with module-info.class file) dependencies with old TomCat versions. TomCat (bcel library) tries to scan class files attempting to find annotations like @WebServlet and others, but encounters unknown byte code.

If one is using org.apache.tomcat.maven:tomcat7-maven-plugin to start embedded TomCat, you can follow this instruction.

Nerynesbit

Thanks. 8.0.46 worked fine. Was having trouble when using 8.0.27 – Enwind

Was having trouble with apache-tomcat-7.0.53 – Specter

I've been battling with this issue for over a day (I had 8.0 and had no idea this was the cause). Thank you so much for posting the information above! Really appreciate it. – Alvaalvan