jsf - *.xhtml url-pattern causes java.lang.NullPointerException at com.sun.faces.context.flash.ELFlash.loggingGetPhaseMapForReading

Question

I am trying to force JSF to process my welcome file. I have set the servlet-mapping in my web.xml to the following:

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.xhtml</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

However, when I try to run my project after doing this, I get this exception:

java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.sun.faces.context.flash.ELFlash.loggingGetPhaseMapForReading(ELFlash.java:793)
    at com.sun.faces.context.flash.ELFlash.getPhaseMapForReading(ELFlash.java:826)
    at com.sun.faces.context.flash.ELFlash.isEmpty(ELFlash.java:484)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.util.DevTools.writeVariables(DevTools.java:325)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.util.DevTools.writeVariables(DevTools.java:215)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.util.DevTools.debugHtml(DevTools.java:130)
    at com.sun.faces.renderkit.RenderKitUtils.renderHtmlErrorPage(RenderKitUtils.java:1162)
    at com.sun.faces.context.ExceptionHandlerImpl.throwIt(ExceptionHandlerImpl.java:276)
    at com.sun.faces.context.ExceptionHandlerImpl.handle(ExceptionHandlerImpl.java:142)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:119)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:139)
    at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:594)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.service(StandardWrapper.java:1550)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:343)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:217)
    at org.netbeans.modules.web.monitor.server.MonitorFilter.doFilter(MonitorFilter.java:393)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:256)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:217)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doInvoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:807)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:671)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.processRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:505)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doDispatch(ApplicationDispatcher.java:476)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.dispatch(ApplicationDispatcher.java:355)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:305)
    at com.sun.faces.context.ExternalContextImpl.dispatch(ExternalContextImpl.java:546)
    at com.sun.faces.application.view.JspViewHandlingStrategy.executePageToBuildView(JspViewHandlingStrategy.java:364)
    at com.sun.faces.application.view.JspViewHandlingStrategy.buildView(JspViewHandlingStrategy.java:154)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RenderResponsePhase.execute(RenderResponsePhase.java:100)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:139)
    at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:594)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.service(StandardWrapper.java:1550)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:343)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:217)
    at org.netbeans.modules.web.monitor.server.MonitorFilter.doFilter(MonitorFilter.java:393)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:256)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:217)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:279)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:175)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.doInvoke(StandardPipeline.java:655)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:595)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:161)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.doService(CoyoteAdapter.java:331)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:231)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper$AdapterCallable.call(ContainerMapper.java:317)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper.service(ContainerMapper.java:195)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.invokeAdapter(ProcessorTask.java:860)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.doProcess(ProcessorTask.java:757)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.process(ProcessorTask.java:1056)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.DefaultProtocolFilter.execute(DefaultProtocolFilter.java:229)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.executeProtocolFilter(DefaultProtocolChain.java:137)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:104)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:90)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.HttpProtocolChain.execute(HttpProtocolChain.java:79)
    at com.sun.grizzly.ProtocolChainContextTask.doCall(ProtocolChainContextTask.java:54)
    at com.sun.grizzly.SelectionKeyContextTask.call(SelectionKeyContextTask.java:59)
    at com.sun.grizzly.ContextTask.run(ContextTask.java:71)
    at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.doWork(AbstractThreadPool.java:532)
    at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.run(AbstractThreadPool.java:513)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)

What is stranger is that when I change the mapping back to

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/faces/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

everything works fine. Does anyone have any idea what is going on here? I am using JSF 2.1 on Glassfish 3.1, and this is my complete web.xml, if it helps.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<web-app version="3.0" 
         xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" 
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_0.xsd">
    <context-param>
        <param-name>com.sun.faces.verifyObjects</param-name>
        <param-value>false</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>com.sun.faces.validateXml</param-name>
        <param-value>false</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES</param-name>
        <param-value>/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
        <param-value>client</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.PROJECT_STAGE</param-name>
        <param-value>Development</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>*.xhtml</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>
    <session-config>
        <session-timeout>
            30
        </session-timeout>
    </session-config>
    <welcome-file-list>
        <welcome-file>index.xhtml</welcome-file>
    </welcome-file-list>
</web-app>

Answer 1

It turns out that the problem was actually being caused by my faces-config.xml file. I had copied from an older project which was using JSF 1.2, whereas I was using 2.1. Once I changed that, the problem went away.