java - org.apache.jasper.el.ELContextImpl cannot be cast to org.apache.jasper.runtime.ELContextImpl

Question

I have a web service project implemented in java and it also contains jsp pages. I deploy it on jetty 8.1.5 on my machine and it works normally. But when I deploy on a windows server 2003 with jetty 8.1.3 it gives this exception:

org.apache.jasper.el.ELContextImpl cannot be cast to org.apache.jasper.runtime.ELContextImpl

This is the full trace:

java.lang.ClassCastException: org.apache.jasper.el.ELContextImpl cannot be cast to org.apache.jasper.runtime.ELContextImpl
    at org.apache.jasper.runtime.PageContextImpl.evaluateExpression(PageContextImpl.java:1002)
    at org.apache.jsp.home.index_jsp._jspService(org.apache.jsp.home.index_jsp:52)
    at org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.service(HttpJspBase.java:111)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:848)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:403)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:492)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:378)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:848)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder.handle(ServletHolder.java:598)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.doHandle(ServletHandler.java:486)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ScopedHandler.handle(ScopedHandler.java:119)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.security.SecurityHandler.handle(SecurityHandler.java:542)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.session.SessionHandler.doHandle(SessionHandler.java:233)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler.doHandle(ContextHandler.java:1065)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.doScope(ServletHandler.java:413)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.session.SessionHandler.doScope(SessionHandler.java:192)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler.doScope(ContextHandler.java:999)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ScopedHandler.handle(ScopedHandler.java:117)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.Dispatcher.forward(Dispatcher.java:271)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.Dispatcher.forward(Dispatcher.java:98)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.DefaultServlet.doGet(DefaultServlet.java:557)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:735)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:848)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder.handle(ServletHolder.java:598)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.doHandle(ServletHandler.java:486)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ScopedHandler.handle(ScopedHandler.java:119)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.security.SecurityHandler.handle(SecurityHandler.java:499)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.session.SessionHandler.doHandle(SessionHandler.java:233)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler.doHandle(ContextHandler.java:1065)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.doScope(ServletHandler.java:413)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.session.SessionHandler.doScope(SessionHandler.java:192)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler.doScope(ContextHandler.java:999)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ScopedHandler.handle(ScopedHandler.java:117)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandlerCollection.handle(ContextHandlerCollection.java:250)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.HandlerCollection.handle(HandlerCollection.java:149)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.HandlerWrapper.handle(HandlerWrapper.java:111)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server.handle(Server.java:350)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.AbstractHttpConnection.handleRequest(AbstractHttpConnection.java:454)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.AbstractHttpConnection.headerComplete(AbstractHttpConnection.java:890)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.AbstractHttpConnection$RequestHandler.headerComplete(AbstractHttpConnection.java:944)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.http.HttpParser.parseNext(HttpParser.java:630)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.http.HttpParser.parseAvailable(HttpParser.java:230)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.AsyncHttpConnection.handle(AsyncHttpConnection.java:77)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.io.nio.SelectChannelEndPoint.handle(SelectChannelEndPoint.java:606)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.io.nio.SelectChannelEndPoint$1.run(SelectChannelEndPoint.java:46)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.util.thread.QueuedThreadPool.runJob(QueuedThreadPool.java:603)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.util.thread.QueuedThreadPool$3.run(QueuedThreadPool.java:538)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Any idea what is this exception and how to fix it?

Answer 1

That can happen if your webapp ships with servletcontainer-specific JAR files such as jasper.jar, jetty.jar servlet.jar, etc in the /WEB-INF/lib for some unclear reason. This is in turn conflicting with with a different versioned JAR file on the target servletcontainer.

Remove that servletcontainer-specific JAR file from your webapp's /WEB-INF/lib. It doesn't belong there. It's supposed to be already supplied by the servletcontainer itself.

See also:

• How do I import the javax.servlet API in my Eclipse project? (this doesn't exactly answer your concrete problem, but this is at least technically the same core problem which should give you a better understanding of this common starter's mistake)