spring boot FileNotFoundException: Could not open ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/main-servlet.xml]

Question

I am running a spring boot application with the following application class:

@EnableAutoConfiguration
@Configuration
public class FakeAppBooter extends SpringBootServletInitializer{

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        SpringApplication.run(FakeAppBooter.class, args);
        System.out.println("Test");
    }
    @Bean
    public EmbeddedServletContainerFactory servletContainer() {
        TomcatEmbeddedServletContainerFactory factory = new TomcatEmbeddedServletContainerFactory();
        factory.setTomcatContextCustomizers(Arrays.asList(new CustomCustomizer()));
        factory.addErrorPages(
                new ErrorPage(HttpStatus.UNAUTHORIZED,"/WEB-INF/views/unprot/common/errors/containerError.jsp"),
                new ErrorPage(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND,"/WEB-INF/views/unprot/common/errors/containerError.jsp"),
                new ErrorPage(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR,"/WEB-INF/views/unprot/common/errors/containerError.jsp"));
        MimeMappings mappings = new MimeMappings(MimeMappings.DEFAULT);
        mappings.add("xsd", "text/xml");
        mappings.add("wsdl", "text/xml");
        factory.setMimeMappings(mappings);
        return factory;
    }

    static class CustomCustomizer implements TomcatContextCustomizer {
        @Override
        public void customize(Context context) {
            context.setUseHttpOnly(true);
            context.addWelcomeFile("home.html");
        }
    }

    @Bean
    public ServletContextInitializer initializer() {
        return new ServletContextInitializer() {
            @Override
            public void onStartup(ServletContext servletContext) throws ServletException {
                servletContext.setInitParameter("parentContextKey", "globalContext");
                servletContext.setInitParameter("contextConfigLocation", "classpath*:com/my/**/fakeContext.xml");
            }
        };
    }

    @Bean
    public ServletRegistrationBean mainServlet(){
        ServletRegistrationBean servlet = new ServletRegistrationBean();
        servlet.setName("main");
        servlet.setServlet(new DispatcherServlet());
        servlet.addUrlMappings("*.html","*.htmlf","*.json",
                "/my/issue","/my/query","/my/adjust","/my/echo");
        return servlet;
    }
    @Bean
    public ServletRegistrationBean cxfServlet(){
        ServletRegistrationBean servlet = new ServletRegistrationBean();
        servlet.setName("CXFServlet");
        servlet.setServlet(new CXFServlet());
        servlet.setLoadOnStartup(1);
        servlet.addUrlMappings("/services/*");
        return servlet;
    }
    @Bean
    public ServletRegistrationBean axisServlet(){
        ServletRegistrationBean servlet = new ServletRegistrationBean();
        servlet.setName("AxisServlet");
        servlet.setServlet(new AxisServlet());
        servlet.addInitParameter("axis.servicesPath", "/axis/");
        servlet.addUrlMappings("/axis/*","*.jws");
        return servlet;
    }

    @Bean
    public FilterRegistrationBean httpMethodFilter(){
        FilterRegistrationBean filter = new FilterRegistrationBean();
        filter.setName("httpMethod");
        filter.setFilter(new HiddenHttpMethodFilter());
        filter.addUrlPatterns("*.html","*.htmlf","*.json");
        return filter;
    }

    @Bean
    public FilterRegistrationBean sitemeshFilter(){
        FilterRegistrationBean filter = new FilterRegistrationBean();
        filter.setName("sitemesh");
        filter.setFilter(new SiteMeshFilter());
        filter.addUrlPatterns("*.html");
        return filter;
    }
}

My layout is as follows

• src/main/java
  • boot/FakeAppBooter.java
• src/main/webapp
  • WEB-INF
    • main-servlet.xml
• src/main/resources

I have tried using above layout, as well as moving the WEB-INF folder to the resources folder

If I package the project as war file with WEB-INF under weabpp, I get the WEB-INF folder in the root of the war file, however on startup I get:

java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
        at org.springframework.boot.loader.MainMethodRunner.run(MainMethodRunner.java:53)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: IOException parsing XML document from class path resource [WEB-INF/main-servlet.xml]; nested exception is java.io.FileNotFoun
dException: class path resource [WEB-INF/main-servlet.xml] cannot be opened because it does not exist
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:343)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:303)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:180)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:216)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:187)
        at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitionsFromImportedResources(ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.java:313)
        at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitionsForConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.java:138)
        at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.java:116)
        at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.processConfigBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:330)
        at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.postProcessBeanDefinitionRegistry(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:243)
        at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanDefinitionRegistryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:254)
        at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:94)
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:611)
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:464)
        at org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.refresh(EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java:109)
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:691)
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:320)
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:952)
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:941)
        at boot.FakeAppBooter.main(FakeAppBooter.java:73)
        ... 6 more
Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [WEB-INF/main-servlet.xml] cannot be opened because it does not exist
        at org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource.getInputStream(ClassPathResource.java:172)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:329)
        ... 25 more

If I move the WEB-INF folder to the resources folder and package as a jar file, I get no error on startup, however I still get the FileNotFoundException when I try to load a webpage, as follows:

java.io.FileNotFoundException: Could not open ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/main-servlet.xml]
        at org.springframework.web.context.support.ServletContextResource.getInputStream(ServletContextResource.java:141)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:329)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:303)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:180)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:216)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:187)
        at org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlWebApplicationContext.java:125)
        at org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlWebApplicationContext.java:94)
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.refreshBeanFactory(AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.java:129)
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.obtainFreshBeanFactory(AbstractApplicationContext.java:542)
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:454)
        at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:658)
        at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:624)
        at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:672)
        at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:543)
        at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initServletBean(FrameworkServlet.java:484)
        at org.springframework.web.servlet.HttpServletBean.init(HttpServletBean.java:136)
        at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:244)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.initServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1284)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.allocate(StandardWrapper.java:884)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:134)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:122)
        at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:503)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:170)
        at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:103)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:116)
        at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:421)
        at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1070)
        at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:611)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1736)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(NioEndpoint.java:1695)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)

Solution

Unless you are running your application as WAR, the src/main/webapp folder won't be included in the output as stated in the documentation:

Do not use the src/main/webapp folder if your application will be packaged as a jar. Although this folder is a common standard, it will only work with war packaging and it will be silently ignored by most build tools if you generate a jar.

So that may be your problem.

To fix it try to set config location explicitly for the main servlet:

servlet.addInitParameter("contextConfigLocation", "classpath:main-servlet.xml");

and place the main-servlet.xml file in src/main/resources.

Hope this helps.