Web App working in eclipse gives Verify EL error org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve invoke

Question

A standard webapp working well in Eclipse in a Tomcat 7 environment is giving this error. Any ideas

App runs fine within eclipse....but tons of these errors in Tomcat 7 and app is unresponsive

Sep 5, 2011 12:53:57 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve invoke
SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet [jsp] in context with path [] threw exception [java.lang.VerifyError: (class: org/apache/jasper/runtime/JspApplicationContextImpl, method: createELResolver signature: ()Ljavax/el/ELResolver;) Incompatible argument to function] with root cause
java.lang.VerifyError: (class: org/apache/jasper/runtime/JspApplicationContextImpl, method: createELResolver signature: ()Ljavax/el/ELResolver;) Incompatible argument to function
    at org.apache.jasper.runtime.JspFactoryImpl.getJspApplicationContext(JspFactoryImpl.java:209)
    at org.apache.jsp.index_jsp._jspInit(index_jsp.java:23)
    at org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.init(HttpJspBase.java:49)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.getServlet(JspServletWrapper.java:171)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:356)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:390)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:333)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:722)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:304)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:210)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:240)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:164)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:164)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:100)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:563)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:399)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:317)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:204)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:182)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:311)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:680)

Answer 1

java.lang.VerifyError: (class: org/apache/jasper/runtime/JspApplicationContextImpl, method: createELResolver signature: ()Ljavax/el/ELResolver;) Incompatible argument to function

This can happen when you've compiled/built your webapp/WAR against a JSP/Servlet version which isn't supported by the container which is running in production. For example, you're developing using Tomcat 7, but you're finally deploying it to Tomcat 6. Ensure that the target runtime servletcontainer is of the same JSP/Servlet version as the servletcontainer which you're developing against in Eclipse.

Rightclick project and check in properties the Project Facets if the Dynamic Web Module version matches the maximum supported Servlet API version as your target runtime. E.g. Tomcat 6.0 supports only Servlet 2.5. Also you should prefer developing against exactly the same servletcontainer make/version as is running in production. This can then be set in Targeted Runtimes section of the project's properties.

You should also ensure that you don't have any container-specific libraries in the /WEB-INF/lib of your webapp. See also How do I import the javax.servlet API in my Eclipse project?