Parsing applicationContext.xml renders a `java.lang.NoSuchMethodError`. Could this be caused by dependency issues?

Question

I am invoking a test method (Junit) with an annotated application context (@ContextConfiguration(locations={"classpath:applicationContext.xml"})). The test fails with the following stacktrace:

11:20:39.793 [main] ERROR o.s.test.context.TestContextManager - Caught exception while allowing TestExecutionListener [org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener@28419cd] to prepare test instance [com.atrioom.TestDynamo@7fbdc7db]
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to load ApplicationContext
    at org.springframework.test.context.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContext(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:91) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.DefaultTestContext.getApplicationContext(DefaultTestContext.java:74) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.injectDependencies(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:116) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.prepareTestInstance(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:82) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.TestContextManager.prepareTestInstance(TestContextManager.java:212) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.createTest(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:199) [spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner$1.runReflectiveCall(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:251) [spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12) [junit-4.11.jar:na]
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.methodBlock(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:253) [spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:216) [spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:82) [spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:238) [junit-4.11.jar:na]
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:63) [junit-4.11.jar:na]
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:236) [junit-4.11.jar:na]
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:53) [junit-4.11.jar:na]
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:229) [junit-4.11.jar:na]
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.java:60) [spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.java:67) [spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:309) [junit-4.11.jar:na]
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:162) [spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit4.runner.JUnit4TestReference.run(JUnit4TestReference.java:50) [.cp/:na]
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38) [.cp/:na]
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:459) [.cp/:na]
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:675) [.cp/:na]
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:382) [.cp/:na]
    at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:192) [.cp/:na]
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Unexpected exception parsing XML document from class path resource [applicationContext.xml]; nested exception is java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlReaderContext.getEnvironment()Lorg/springframework/core/env/Environment;
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:413) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:335) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:303) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:180) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:216) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:187) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:251) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:253) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:122) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:60) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.delegateLoading(AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.java:108) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.java:260) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContextInternal(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:63) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.test.context.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContext(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:83) ~[spring-test-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    ... 25 common frames omitted
Caused by: java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlReaderContext.getEnvironment()Lorg/springframework/core/env/Environment;
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScanBeanDefinitionParser.parse(ComponentScanBeanDefinitionParser.java:81) ~[spring-context-4.1.1.RELEASE.jar:4.1.1.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.NamespaceHandlerSupport.parse(NamespaceHandlerSupport.java:74) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.parseCustomElement(BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.java:1424) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.parseCustomElement(BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.java:1414) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.parseBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:187) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.doRegisterBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:141) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.registerBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:110) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.registerBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:508) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:391) ~[spring-beans-4.0.7.RELEASE.jar:4.0.7.RELEASE]
    ... 38 common frames omitted

I think the problem is a missing method (org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlReaderContext.getEnvironment()). I am not sure how to read the line correctly, the closed parenthesis with the addition Lorg/springframework/core/env/Environment confuses me. I tried different bean versions in my applicationContext.xml as well as different spring versions.

---

This is my applicationContext:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans     
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-4.1.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context 
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-4.1.xsd">

<context:component-scan base-package="com.atrioom" />

<context:annotation-config />

Solution

I just encountered this with Spring 4.1.1.RELEASE, Spring Security 3.2.5.RELEASE and OAuth2 2.0.3.RELEASE. It was OAuth2 that needed the getEnvironment method.

One of the Spring Security dependencies downloaded Spring Beans 4.0.3.RELEASE which does not have getEnvironment. I fixed by explicitly defining spring-beans 4.1.1.RELEASE as a dependency.

Comments

[Jens]

Looks like you have a version conflict in your spring jars. can you show which files you are using?

[Xstian]

Can you show us your dependencies? Probably there is a conflict of jars in your classpath.

[miguelcobain]

In my case a dependency was including an older version of spring. I explicitly excluded spring from that and everything went fine.