"webxml attribute is required" error in Maven

Question

I am getting the following error:

Error assembling WAR: webxml attribute is required (or pre-existing WEB-INF/web.xml if executing in update mode)

I have got web.xml in right place which is projectname\src\main\webapp\WEB-INF\web.xml

What could be causing this?

I was facing the same issue and updating the plugin version solved it. — TechnocratSid, Dec 09 '18 at 08:06

score 379 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 21 '15 at 14:12

379

It would be helpful if you can provide a code snippet of your maven-war-plugin. Looks like the web.xml is at right place, still you can try and give the location explicitly

<plugin>            
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
  <configuration>
    <webXml>src\main\webapp\WEB-INF\web.xml</webXml>        
  </configuration>
</plugin>

edited Oct 21 '15 at 14:12

Joshua Taylor

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answered Mar 18 '11 at 14:50

Arpit

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38

Worked for me too, thanks. But what's the default location where Maven searches? – Buffalo Mar 03 '12 at 08:03
6

I just updated the maven war plugin from 2.1.1 to 2.4, and the need to make explicit the default location wen away. – xverges May 22 '14 at 13:59
2

You might want to update your answer for ItelliJ IDEA users - IntelliJ creates another project structure so it would be web\WEB-INF\web.xml – Vic Torious Jan 04 '17 at 23:53
tried your answer but still got the same error instead of that I did this "C:\Users\xxxx\Videos\maven-projects\my-project\src\webapp\WEB-INF" and worked good. I dont know what is the problem. Its my luck. Thank you – Bunny Joel Jan 11 '18 at 14:02

score 190 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 12 '20 at 09:26

190

<plugin>
    <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.4</version>
    <configuration>
        <failOnMissingWebXml>false</failOnMissingWebXml>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

This solution works for me (I was using 2.2 before). Also, I am using Java Based Configuration for Servlet 3.0 and no need to have web.xml file.

edited Nov 12 '20 at 09:26

Ahmed Ashour

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answered Nov 15 '14 at 10:17

Sagar

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The versions 3.x of that plugin now have failOnMissingWebXml default to `false`. So, ``` maven-war-plugin 3.2.3 ``` should suffice. – Eisenknurr Jun 12 '19 at 08:10
worked for me as I was and still am using jboss-web.xml - thanks! – JGlass Aug 21 '19 at 23:31
1

I have a project that does not have web.xml, and this worked for me. Maven build is successful. – blueSky May 30 '20 at 22:48
I had to add org.apache.maven.plugins just before the artifactId, then it worked. Thanks – Bhushan Karmarkar Feb 25 '22 at 05:52

score 87 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 24 '12 at 19:28

87

It works perfectly for me too.

<project>

.....

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
                <configuration>
                    <webXml>WebContent\WEB-INF\web.xml</webXml>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

edited Jun 24 '12 at 19:28

Michael Petrotta

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answered Jun 24 '12 at 14:26

Burhan ARAS

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6

Above works when facets are enabled and WebContent is the folder where web.xml goes in. – Ram Mar 29 '13 at 02:48

score 44 · Answer 4 · answered May 20 '17 at 16:33

This is because you have not included web.xml in your web project and trying to build war using maven. To resolve this error, you need to set the failOnMissingWebXml to false in pom.xml file.

For example:

<properties>
    <failOnMissingWebXml>false</failOnMissingWebXml>   
</properties>

Please see the blog for more details: https://ankurjain26.blogspot.in/2017/05/error-assembling-war-webxml-attribute.html

score 23 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 20 '15 at 14:45

23

If you are migrating from XML-based to Java-based configuration and you have removed the need for web.xml by implementing WebApplicationInitializer, simply remove the requirement for the web.xml file to be present.

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.6</version>
    <configuration>
        <failOnMissingWebXml>false</failOnMissingWebXml>
        ... 
    </configuration>

answered Jul 20 '15 at 14:45

Beatty

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similar answer was given before – Paul Verest Jul 01 '16 at 05:31
This one gives context, where exactly the line needs to go. – foo Jan 12 '20 at 14:44

score 21 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 31 '13 at 08:13

21

The value of my webXml tag needed to look like this in order to work:

<webXml>${project.basedir}\src\main\webapp\WEB-INF\web.xml</webXml>

answered Jan 31 '13 at 08:13

BoneGoat

554
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exactly! Couldn't figure it out until I saw I had just a slash at the beginning `\src\main\webapp` doesn't work! Not in v2.6 – Adam Feb 25 '16 at 19:38

score 20 · Answer 7 · edited Aug 23 '18 at 17:55

20

I had the exact same problem and i solved it like this :

Make a new folder named WEB-INF under src/main/webbapp then

Right Click on your Project -> Java EE Tools -> Generate Deployment Descriptor Stub

This should generate your web.xml

I hope this helps by solving your problem :D

edited Aug 23 '18 at 17:55

answered Oct 25 '14 at 12:58

Catalin Ciolocoiu

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score 13 · Answer 8 · edited Feb 03 '13 at 12:14

It does look like you have web.xml in the right location, but even so, this error is often caused by the directory structure not matching what Maven expects to see. For example, if you start out with an Eclipse webapp that you are trying to build with Maven.

If that is the issue, a quick fix is to create a
src/main/java and a
src/main/webapp directory (and other directories if you need them) and just move your files.

Here is an overview of the maven directory layout: http://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-the-standard-directory-layout.html

Grim · Answer 9 · 2022-09-02T13:37:21.057

failOnMissingWebXml since 2020

All other answers about might be obsolete because the default value used by the maven-war-plugin changed:

Starting with 3.0.1, this property defaults to false if the project depends on the Servlet 3.0 API or newer.

So the ONLY thing you have to do is to add

<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
    <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
    <version>3.0.1</version>
</dependency>

Example:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 
        http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">

    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>foo</groupId>
    <artifactId>bar</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
            <version>3.0.1</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
    <build>
        <pluginManagement>
            <plugins>
                <plugin>
                    <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
                    <version>3.3.2</version>
                </plugin>
            </plugins>
        </pluginManagement>
    </build>
</project>

score 10 · Answer 10 · edited Nov 12 '20 at 09:31

10

As per the documentation, it says : Whether or not to fail the build if the web.xml file is missing. Set to false if you want you WAR built without a web.xml file. This may be useful if you are building an overlay that has no web.xml file. Default value is: true. User property is: failOnMissingWebXml.

<plugin>
    <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.1.1</version>
    <extensions>false</extensions>
    <configuration>
        <failOnMissingWebXml>false</failOnMissingWebXml>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

Hope it makes more clear

edited Nov 12 '20 at 09:31

Ahmed Ashour

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answered Dec 14 '15 at 10:31

codechefvaibhavkashyap

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this was the issue for me. – Mr Smith Oct 04 '22 at 18:38

score 9 · Answer 11 · edited Nov 12 '20 at 09:30

9

It worked for me too.

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
    <configuration>
        <webXml>WebContent\WEB-INF\web.xml</webXml>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

edited Nov 12 '20 at 09:30

Ahmed Ashour

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answered Dec 03 '15 at 05:32

Vineet kaushik

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It works, but the logs says now: `WEB-INF\web.xml already added, skipping`. That's weird, when I don't add this, I got the error. – erwineberhard Jan 09 '16 at 14:35
Same as erwineberhard. `WEB-INF\web.xml already added, skipping` – Prachi Jun 28 '16 at 20:27

Giorgi Tsiklauri · Answer 12 · 2021-01-22T14:02:05.127

This is an old question, and there are many answers, most of which will be more or less helpful; however, there is one, very important and still relevant point, which none of the answers touch (providing, instead, different hacks to make build possible), and which, I think, in no way has a less importance.. on the contrary.

According to your log message, you are using Maven, which is a Project Management tool, firmly following the conventions, over configuration principle.

When Maven builds the project:

it expects your project to have a particular directory structure, so that it knows where to expect what. This is called a Maven's Standard Directory Layout;
during the build, it creates also proper directory structure and places files into corresponding locations/directories, and this, in compliance with the Sun Microsystems Directory Structure Standard for Java EE [web] applications.

You may incorporate many things, including maven plugins, changing/reconfiguring project root directory, etc., but better and easier is to follow the default conventions over configuration, according to which, (now is the answer to your problem) there is one simple step that can make your project work: Just place your web.xml under src\main\webapp\WEB-INF\ and try to build the project with mvn package.

score 6 · Answer 13 · answered Nov 18 '14 at 08:48

If you change the default project path, you must specify the location of the web.xml file, for example:

        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.5</version>
            <configuration>
                <webXml>src\main\web\WEB-INF\web.xml</webXml>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>

gabor · Answer 14 · 2015-05-19T16:41:46.010

5

mvn-war-plugin 2.3 fixes this:

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.3</version>
        </plugin>
        ...

edited May 19 '15 at 16:41

answered Sep 29 '14 at 12:29

gabor

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score 5 · Answer 15 · answered Jul 03 '16 at 07:10

I have had the same error on the test server but not in local. After a few minutes, I discovered that the IDE wasn't synchronized with the pom.xml. Here is how I solve it:

Re-Generate the deployment descriptor with Eclipse

Right click on your project folder
In the contextual menu, choose "Java EE Tools" then "Generate Deployment Descriptor Stub"
It will create the web.xml.

Re-Generate the deployment descriptor with IntelliJ

Right click on your project folder
In the contextual menu, choose "Open Module Settings", then click on the + to add the web deployment descriptor.
Then your can change the path to your descriptor or the Web Ressource Directoriesand the on the right side.
Then you will get something like:

and in netbeans you would: right click the project node> New > Other > Web > Standard Deployment Descriptor (web.xml). — shabby, Nov 23 '16 at 07:37

score 2 · Answer 16 · answered Mar 11 '13 at 13:48

2

Make sure pom.xml is placed properly in Project folder. and not inside target folder or any where else.

Looks like pom.xml is not relatively aligned.

answered Mar 11 '13 at 13:48

Meghashyam

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1

score 2 · Answer 17 · answered May 26 '16 at 17:20

Was your folder structure altered so the file is no-longer at /src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml ?

To resolve this issue, I gave my web folder the name webapp and placed it inside the src/main. Maven seems to look for web.xml by default at /src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml. If you do this then you don't need to explicitly tell maven where web.xml is. And if you've altered your folder structure and your build recently stopped working, this could be why.

Note: This is an old post but the posted solutions don't point out why a working build would suddenly stop working.

score 2 · Answer 18 · edited Mar 13 '19 at 15:41

2

This error occurs because you tell to Maven to pakage files to war.

<packaging>war</packaging>

Do you really need war? If not, put jar there. Here is full code:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">

    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <groupId>com.your.groupid</groupId>
    <artifactId>artifactid</artifactId>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>

edited Mar 13 '19 at 15:41

Giorgi Tsiklauri

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answered Mar 11 '17 at 11:44

Yuliia Ashomok

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jar and war are completely different stories. I think war is needed here, as the archive is getting deployed to web container and is not ran separately as a standalone jar application. – Giorgi Tsiklauri Mar 13 '19 at 15:39

score 1 · Answer 19 · answered Mar 12 '22 at 18:08

I encountered this message while trying to package a Spring Boot project as a WAR file and deploying that WAR file in a standalone Tomcat instance.

I used Spring Intializr to generate the initial pom.xml and related artifacts. The problem was that in that pom.xml (Spring version 2.6.+), this dependency was in place.

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-webflux</artifactId>
</dependency>

I had to replace it with this one:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
</dependency>

And also added this dependency with scope of "provided"

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-tomcat</artifactId>
    <scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>

Also, of course, changed the packaging

<packaging>war</packaging>

score 0 · Answer 20 · answered Jan 06 '21 at 16:13

0

Make sure to run mvn install before you compile your war.

answered Jan 06 '21 at 16:13

Mahmoud

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score 0 · Answer 21 · answered Sep 13 '22 at 22:35

There are two things to note regarding packaging.

Packaging to a war file will require you define the web.xml file in the appropriate folder as described by Catalin Ciolocoiu.
But changing the package type to jar would not need that structure and should work straight away.

score 0 · Answer 22 · answered Apr 15 '23 at 07:38

If you don't want to use web.xml you exclude it in pom.xml.

<build>
<plugins>
    
    <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.6</version>
        <configuration>
            <failOnMissingWebXml>false</failOnMissingWebXml>
        </configuration>
    </plugin>
    
</plugins>
</build>

The right version you see in the error message:

[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-war-plugin:2.2:war 
(default-war) on project spring4-mvc-maven-ajax-example:

Here it is 2.2.

Found this solution on mycong.com

https://mkyong.com/maven/maven-webxml-attribute-is-required/

"webxml attribute is required" error in Maven

22 Answers22

failOnMissingWebXml since 2020

Example:

Re-Generate the deployment descriptor with Eclipse

Re-Generate the deployment descriptor with IntelliJ

Linked

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