java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/http/impl/conn/PoolingClientConnectionManager

Question

Getting an issue with this dependency although it isn't being referenced as a dependency explicitly in my pom.xml. The actual maven dependency is:

  <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.httpcomponents</groupId>
        <artifactId>httpclient</artifactId>
        <version>4.2.5</version>
    </dependency>

The stacktrace from my console is:

 java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/http/impl/conn/PoolingClientConnectionManager
at com.gbi.gsa.Bridge.createClient(Bridge.java:50)
at com.gbi.gsa.Bridge.<init>(Bridge.java:46)
at com.gbi.gsa.SimpleBridge.<init>(SimpleBridge.java:34)
at   com.gbi.quickstart.controller.NavigationController.handleRequestInternal(NavigationController.java:114)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.AbstractController.handleRequest(AbstractController.java:153)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.SimpleControllerHandlerAdapter.handle(SimpleControllerHandlerAdapter.java:48)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:875)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:807)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:571)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doPost(FrameworkServlet.java:511)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:755)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:848)
at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder.handle(ServletHolder.java:669)
at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler$CachedChain.doFilter(ServletHandler.java:1336)
at org.springframework.web.filter.CharacterEncodingFilter.doFilterInternal(CharacterEncodingFilter.java:96)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:76)
at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler$CachedChain.doFilter(ServletHandler.java:1307)
at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.doHandle(ServletHandler.java:453)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ScopedHandler.handle(ScopedHandler.java:137)
at org.eclipse.jetty.security.SecurityHandler.handle(SecurityHandler.java:560)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.session.SessionHandler.doHandle(SessionHandler.java:231)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler.doHandle(ContextHandler.java:1072)
at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.doScope(ServletHandler.java:382)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.session.SessionHandler.doScope(SessionHandler.java:193)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler.doScope(ContextHandler.java:1006)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ScopedHandler.handle(ScopedHandler.java:135)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandlerCollection.handle(ContextHandlerCollection.java:255)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.HandlerCollection.handle(HandlerCollection.java:154)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.HandlerWrapper.handle(HandlerWrapper.java:116)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server.handle(Server.java:365)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.AbstractHttpConnection.handleRequest(AbstractHttpConnection.java:485)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.AbstractHttpConnection.content(AbstractHttpConnection.java:937)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.AbstractHttpConnection$RequestHandler.content(AbstractHttpConnection.java:998)
at org.eclipse.jetty.http.HttpParser.parseNext(HttpParser.java:856)
at org.eclipse.jetty.http.HttpParser.parseAvailable(HttpParser.java:240)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.AsyncHttpConnection.handle(AsyncHttpConnection.java:82)
at org.eclipse.jetty.io.nio.SelectChannelEndPoint.handle(SelectChannelEndPoint.java:628)
at org.eclipse.jetty.io.nio.SelectChannelEndPoint$1.run(SelectChannelEndPoint.java:52)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.thread.QueuedThreadPool.runJob(QueuedThreadPool.java:608)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.thread.QueuedThreadPool$3.run(QueuedThreadPool.java:543)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException:   org.apache.http.impl.conn.PoolingClientConnectionManager
at   org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.strategy.SelfFirstStrategy.loadClass(SelfFirstStrategy.java:50)
at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.loadClass(ClassRealm.java:244)
at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.loadClass(ClassRealm.java:230)
at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppClassLoader.loadClass(WebAppClassLoader.java:430)
at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppClassLoader.loadClass(WebAppClassLoader.java:383)
... 41 more

I have tried deleting my .m2/repositories directory and downloading my dependencies (through maven) and it still doesn't work.

Answer 1

Your problem is probably nothing to do with dependencies. NoClassDefFoundError is different to ClassNotFoundException. It means that the class was available while compiling, but failed to initialise, usually due to an exception in a static block. This answer has the good oil. What causes and what are the differences between NoClassDefFoundError and ClassNotFoundException?

Answer 2

Try upgrading to 4.3

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.httpcomponents</groupId>
    <artifactId>httpclient</artifactId>
    <version>4.3.3</version>
</dependency>

I think the class was not present until 4.3

Answer 3

Try by changing the httpClient version from 4.2.5 to 4.3.4... It worked for me...

Answer 4

As it works for me, please post your original pom. Also check if you are behind a proxy and your .m2/settings is valid.

Answer 5

Please check the version of the servlet-api that you are using in your project and also in the poms of the third party jars like Spring-web, httclient etc. If spring jar is compiled with servlet version 3.0.1 and httpclient or its dependencies are compiled with servlet 2.5.6 then this problem might occur.

I have faced similar issue while upgrading some of the third party dependencies for my project.